Together Again
by nebula2
Summary: (Complete) Adam is back skating with the varsity but his friends are the Ducks. Once again he is caught between two teams. But then Adam is injured during a game. Which team will be there for him? Will ducks flock together?
1. From Duck to Warrior

Disclaimer: Disney owns the Mighty Ducks - I'm just having fun with the characters.  
  
It was the Monday morning after the varsity/JV game at Eden Hall. Adam Banks woke up to the sound of the alarm ringing in his ear. As he reached out to turn the alarm off he opened his eyes and his gaze fell on his white Ducks jersey. Number 99. A smile slowly came to his face. Friday night had been great. It had been great to skate with the ducks again. To feel like part of a team instead of an outsider.  
But then his smile faded as he noticed the other jersey laying next to it. The red and black jersey of the Eden Hall Warriors. With the Varsity/JV game over, he was no longer a Duck. He had made the Varsity team in his freshman year. He couldn't help but feel good about that but it made him an outsider once again. He wasn't a Duck and he really wasn't a Warrior either. The Varsity team didn't really except him. He wasn't really a part of the team even when he was out there playing with them. To them he was just some lucky freshman who happened to make the team. At times he thought they were trying to make him quit but he wasn't going to let them win. He wasn't going to quit.  
He got out of bed and started getting ready for the day trying not to wake up his roommate, Steve, whom he really didn't even know. Steve liked to sleep late, skip breakfast, and then rush to his first class. He said the rushing around got his day started out right. Adam didn't even try to figure it out.  
In the cafeteria, Adam got his breakfast and then looked around for a place to sit. He saw the Varsity Hockey team together at their table and although he could of joined them he didn't want to. Instead he headed for a small table in the far corner of the cafeteria that was empty. On his way he passed the table where some of the Ducks were seated. Nobody noticed him as he walked by.  
'I guess I'm back to being invisible again' Adam thought as he sat down and ate his breakfast alone.  
The day went by slowly for Adam. A few of his former friends said hello to him during the day when their paths crossed but that was it. For lunch he grabbed a sandwich and hid in the library. When it was time for practice he made his way to the hockey rink.  
As he got ready for practice no one said a word to him and Adam chose not to draw attention to himself. He got ready and headed out to the ice. Before practice the varsity coach started talking about how disappointed he was that they had lost to the JV team. How they had not only let him down but the school. As long as the Varsity/JV game had been played at Eden Hall the Varsity had never lost. They had broken that tradition. He expected them to work twice as hard to make it up to the school.  
"And," Coach Wilson said bringing the speech to an end, " I have gotten Coach O'Rion to agree to a rematch at the end of both of our seasons. And this time we will not lose."  
Around him all the Warriors started yelling. Adam joined in with them. It was what he was suppose to do. But to him it just meant that he would be skating against his team again no matter what side he played on. He hated being torn between two teams.  
The Coach wasn't kidding when he said they were going to work hard. He started them off with drills and worked them nonstop for the first half hour of practice. For Adam it was like skating for Coach Reilly again. Work, work, work. All that mattered was winning. Hockey wasn't suppose to be fun unless you won. To make matters worse the Coach kept praising Adam which only made the other team members hate him more.  
After a five minute break, the Coach split them up into scrimmage teams. Adam couldn't help but feel like that getting the puck was second on the opposing team's mind. First on there minds was getting even for him playing with the Ducks. Adam lost track of how many time he was sent down to the ice or into the boards. He even got checked by a couple of players who were supposedly on his team. Despite that though he still managed to score a few goals. Although which team had actually one he didn't know and he really didn't care. He just wanted practice to be over with.  
Adam slowly changed back into his regular clothes after practice. He didn't have the energy to move fast. By the time he left he was the only Warrior left in the locker room. He slowly left the locker room, heading back to his room. As soon as he walked out of the locker room though a voice stopped him in his tracks.  
"Hey Banksie," he heard Charlie Conway call out. Adam looked up to see Charlie walking out of the stands. He came over and stood in front of Adam. "O'Rion cancelled practice for us today for some reason so we decided we were just going to get together, watch a movie and hang out. Want to join us."  
"Yeah sure," Adam said after getting over his initial surprise.  
"Great," Charlie said reaching out and taking Adam's practice bag from him. Adam let him have the bag and took the gesture as it was meant. An apology and a act of friendship. Maybe he didn't have to be a Duck to still have friends. 


	2. Just Hanging Out

As they walked into the common room of the Eden Hall dorm the rest of the ducks had already gathered. Connie, Guy, Averman, and Ken were sitting on the couch. Dean and Fulton had dragged the two easy chairs over next to the couch and were lounging in them. The rest of them were gathered on the floor between the couch and the tv. The coffee table that was normally there was on the side of the room covered with backpacks, books, and folders. They were in the middle of arguing about something as Charlie and Adam walked into the room.  
"Hey guys, what's the movie?" asked Charlie as he sat Adam's practice bag on the floor next to the coffee table. He then took a spot in the middle of the group gathered on the floor.  
Adam leaned his stick up against the wall next to his bag and then took a spot on the floor on the edge of the group.  
"Well, we've been having a discussion about that," Guy said from the couch. "It's either Goonies," he said holding up a video in one hand, "or Revenge of the Nerds," holding up the video in the other hand."  
"Let me guess, Revenge of the Nerds was Averman's choice right," Charlie said.  
"Very funny," Averman said from his spot on the floor as everyone else laughed.  
After another five minutes of arguing over which movie to watch they finally settled on Goonies. They watched the movie silently for all of about ten minutes. Then Guy started telling Connie about something funny that had happened in one of his classes earlier that day. Before long everyone was laughing and telling stories. The movie kept playing in the background but no one payed much attention to it. No one except Adam that is.  
Adam half watched the movie half listened to what his former teammates were saying. He couldn't help but still feel a little bit out of place. No one seemed to really notice it that much though except for Charlie who found himself watching Adam. He had invited Adam here tonight so that he would start feeling like a part of the group again. It didn't seem to be working though.  
And then Russ started telling a story about one of the classes that he had with Adam. Before long he had Adam helping him tell the story. After that even Adam forgot about the movie.  
"It's good to see him laughing for a change isn't it," Julie whispered to Charlie echoing what he had just been thinking about.  
"Yeah it is," Charlie whispered. "Although we haven't exactly given him a lot to laugh about lately," Charlie told her thinking about everything that had gone on since they came to Eden Hall. As soon as Adam had made varsity the Ducks had started leaving Adam out of things. They started ignoring him instead of being happy for him for making varsity. Charlie felt guilty about that because he knew that the others tended to follow his lead. He had to be honest with himself though. He had resented Adam making Varsity not because he was leaving the team, that hadn't been his doing. It had just happened. He had actually been jealous of Adam. Charlie may have been the captain of the Ducks but he knew that Adam was the better player even if he hated to admit it.  
"No we haven't," Julie agreed thinking about how after all they had put him through Adam had still skated with them during the Varsity/JV game the previous Friday night. She didn't think they would have been able to win if he had been skating with varsity.  
At seven o'clock the group started to break up and go there separate ways. They all had homework to do for the next days classes. Guy took the tape out of the VCR which had already played to the end and rewound on its own. Adam grabbed his practice bag and hockey stick and headed up to the dorm rooms with Averman, Russ and Goldberg.  
They passed Russ's room first and he said good-bye to the group. Adam's room was next but as he started to go inside Goldberg stopped him telling his roommate Averman to go ahead without him.  
"Adam, I was wondering if he could help me out with my skating some," Goldberg said. "I kind of enjoyed being a defense man but I need to work on my skills if I'm going to stay there."  
"Why not ask Charlie? He'ld help you."Adam was just a little bit surprised to hear Goldberg asking him for help even though he had always given pointers to his teammates whenever he could.  
"I don't want anyone else to know I'm putting in the extra work. If it doesn't work out and I end up being just a goalie then the less people who know the easier it will be on me. I don't want them all feeling sorry for me."  
"Okay," Adam said. He was always happy to help anyone out anyway that he could. "There's always an hour between Varsity practice and JV practice when the ice is free. How about you meet me at the rink after Varsity practice and we'll work on it then."  
"Great," Goldberg told him. "See ya tomorrow."  
Adam went into his room and put his hockey gear off to the side. Steve was no where to be seen which meant he would have the room to himself for a little while. He got his books out and started his homework. Suddenly tomorrow wasn't looking so bad. 


	3. Scoring Points

"I give up," Goldberg said dropping his stick to the ice as he watched another puck glide into the goal.  
It was Friday, a week after the Varsity/JV game. Adam had been working with Goldberg for four days now. They were doing some one on one practice now with Goldberg trying to keep Adam from scoring. Even though Adam was taking it easy on Goldberg he was still having no trouble scoring.  
  
"You've got to keep your eye on the player with the puck. You're looking behind you too much," Adam told him retrieving the puck from the goal.  
"You're wasting your time. I'm never going to be able to do this."  
"Keep trying Goldberg," Adam told him picking his stick up off the ice and holding it out too him. Goldberg refused to take it from him. "Come on, you wanted me to help you. Your making progress Goldberg, you're not hopeless. You just need to keep practicing. I seem to remember a certain goalie who threw his stick and gloves down during a game and told a hawk to just have the goal. And look at you now, you're a good goalie."  
Goldberg let out a sigh but took his stick back from Adam. "Okay, let's try it again."  
They tried it five more times and on the fifth try Goldberg finally kept the puck from going into the goal.  
"I did it!"  
"Great job," Adam told him going over to collect the puck from the side of the rink. "We'll have to end practice on that note," Adam told him. "I have a game tonight." He was using the game as an excuse to end their practice on a positive note. They only had fifteen minutes until the Ducks started practice anyways.  
"Okay, Thanks for the help and good luck," Goldberg told him as Adam left the ice. Goldberg looked back at the goal. He still couldn't believe it.  
  
"Okay everyone take a knee," Orion called out as their practice came to an end that same afternoon. He waited to have all of his players attention before continuing.  
"I have some bad news for you. I'm sorry to say that this will be my last practice with you. I cancelled practice on Monday because I was out at John Hopkins Hospital on Monday looking into a possible new treatment for my daughters injury. My wife and I have decided to pursue it which means I'll be moving my family out to Baltimore."  
The Ducks were silent. Not long ago they would have loved Orion leaving, especially Charlie, but they had come to like their new coach. It was Charlie who finally broke the silence.  
"Good luck Coach. I hope everything goes well for you and your family," he told Coach Orion speaking not only for himself but for his teammates as well.  
"Thank-you. I'm going to miss all of you. I've enjoyed coaching you this semester."  
"Are we going to have a new coach?" Gaffney asked.  
"Your new coach will be here on Monday," Orion said with a smile. "I think you're going to like him."  
"You're not going to tell us who it is?" asked Charlie.  
"No. You'll find out Monday," Orion told them. "And now to finish practice," he skated over to one of the player boxes and reached for something sitting over there, "let's finish with some cowboy roundup one last time," he said holding up a rope which he handed to Dwayne Robertson.  
Immediately the Ducks scattered trying to avoid Dwayne and his rope. Averman was the first one out and one by one the rest of the Ducks followed. Dwayne was able to rope Orion, who was participating, somewhere in the middle of the round-up. For the first time ever, Goldberg was the last person that Dwayne was able to rope.  
"Anyone interested in going to the Varsity game with me tonight?" Charlie asked as they all headed for the locker room.  
"You're going to go cheer those goons on?" Russ asked disbelievingly.  
"No I'm going to go to support Adam. If he doesn't play then I guess I won't be doing much cheering," Charlie said as he started taking his skates off.  
"I'm going," Julie said as she started taking her goalie gear off.  
"Yeah, she wants to go see lover boy in action," Averman commented.  
"Oh be quiet," Julie said even though Averman was right. Ever since last Friday night Scooter, the varsity goalie, had been showing some interest in her. Julie had to admit that she was enjoying it.  
"Julie and Scooter sitting in a tree..." Averman started but was cut off by Julie blocker glove hitting him in the face. He took the hint and dropped it.  
"I'll go," Connie said when she stopped laughing. "I don't have anything better to do."  
"Me too," Guy said.  
In the end only Averman, Ken, and Luis were not going to the game. Instead the three were going to go out and catch a movie.  
"Okay", Charlie said to his teammates who were going to the game. " It starts at eight o'clock. How about we all meet in the common room at seven thirty and head over together."  
The others quickly agreed and then in small groups they all started leaving the locker room. As Charlie walked back to the dorm listening to Guy telling him about what had happened in history class that day he couldn't help but wonder about who their new coach was going to be. Hopefully, the transition to this coach would go much smoother than they had with Coach Orion.  
  
"There he is," Julie said excitedly as the Varsity team took the ice for warm-ups before the game that night. She wasn't talking about Adam. Julie was busy watching Scooter.  
"I guess I'll have to cheer for two of the Varsity people then," Charlie said. "If I don't cheer for Scooter stopping a goal I might get clobbered."Julie was too busy watching Scooter to even pay attention to what Charlie had said. "I wonder what else I could say without her noticing," Charlie whispered to Guy who was sitting behind him. Connie, sitting right next to Guy, hit Charlie playfully.  
"Don't you even think about it," Connie told him. "I think they would make a cute couple."  
"Yeah you would," Guy said receiving an elbow in the side from Connie for the comment.  
Before long the game started. There was only one goal scored during the first period and that was made by the visiting team. From the looks of it Coach Wilson was not happy about it. The Warriors had several good opportunities to score but couldn't capitalize on them. The visiting team's goalie was stopping every shot they made.  
It was halfway through the second period before Adam finally got to play. As he took the ice all of the Ducks started cheering. It wasn't long before Adam got a hold of the puck and headed for the opposing teams goal.  
"Come on, come on," Charlie whispered to himself as he watch Adam head toward the goal. Adam got close to the net and took the shot. The puck sailed by the goalie and into the net. Charlie jumped up and started cheering with the crowd. The game was now tied at one to one.  
"Way to go Banks," several of the Ducks yelled.  
On the ice Adam heard the familiar voices yelling his name. As he headed back to center ice for the next face off he scanned the crowd quickly until he found the familiar faces in the crowd.  
"Just because you scored one goal doesn't mean you belong on the team freshman," Cole said coming up beside Adam.  
Adam kept quiet and headed for center ice. On the face off Adam was able to hit the puck over to the right wing Kilpatrick before he was taken down by the other team's center. He quickly got back up and headed after his other two teammates. Kilpatrick passed the puck back to Adam and he made another goal.  
The second period ended without another goal being made. In the third period the other team made a goal tying the game again. Adam got another chance to play in the middle of the third period but was unable to make another goal. The final goal was made by Riley with thirty seconds left to the game.  
As his teammates celebrated the win around him Adam couldn't help but feel left out. Everyone congratulated Riley for his final winning shot. They didn't seem to remember that the first two points had been made by Adam. Without those two goals Riley's final goal wouldn't have mattered. He joined his teammates as they shook hands with the opposing team.  
Despite his teammates efforts of making him feel left out Adam still felt that satisfaction of winning. He still loved the game. He loved playing. No one could take that away from him. As long as he was able to play the game he didn't care if his so called teammates didn't talk to him at all. 


	4. The New Coach?

Note: This isn't how I was originally planning on starting the next chapter but after reading the reviews I wanted to answer crazy4nc128 question - what about scooter? Hope you like the choice I made about Scooter. Enjoy!  
  
The celebrating continued in the Warriors locker room as they showered and got changed after the game. Everyone was congratulating Riley on his winning goal. Adam just chose to stay out of everyone's way as much as he could.  
Everyone was going to Ed's place, a near-by diner and hang out for the kids at Eden Hall. It was a post game ritual and the whole team was expected to go. Adam figured he show up for a little while and then slip out. He really didn't feel like hanging out with the team anyways but he also didn't want to cause any more problems for himself.  
As he grabbed his jacket out of the locker he felt a hand come down on his shoulder.  
"Nice job out there kid," Scooter told him and then left the locker room with Riley and Cole.  
Since scoring the second goal in the game Adam found himself smiling again. Maybe all of his new teammates weren't so bad. Making sure all of his stuff was in the locker Adam closed and locked his locker and left the locker room. He was the last member of the team to do so.  
He found six of the Warriors still right outside of the locker room though. Riley and Scooter were standing a little bit away from the other four. They were keeping their voices low but they seemed to be arguing about something. The other four Warriors were simply waiting for their Captain.  
"Hey Adam," a voice called startling him. Adam looked in the direction of the voice to see Charlie and the rest of the Ducks who had come to the game standing near the stands. "We're going out for ice cream. Come with us."  
"I don't know," Adam said casting a glance to the Warriors. He wanted to go with the Ducks. He knew he would have a much better time with them than with his teammates but he had to skate with the Warriors at practice the next day.  
"Come on Adam," a couple of other Ducks insisted. Before Adam could reply another voice was heard.  
"We don't have to do everything together Riley," Scooter said loud enough for everyone to hear. "I'm going to spend some time with Julie tonight," he continued "and if you have a problem with it than tough."  
Scooter walked away from Riley and headed toward where the Ducks were standing. His path took him back past Adam. On his way by he put his arm around Adam's shoulders saying "Come along kid. Let's go celebrate." Scooter led him toward the Ducks making Adam's choice for him but Adam didn't mind. It was the choice he had wanted to make anyway. Adam couldn't help but start to worry about how practice was going to go the next day though.  
"You skated great tonight," Russ said to Adam as he and Scooter joined the group.  
As Russ and some of the other Ducks congratulated Adam on his game Scooter found Julie. As the group headed out of the arena and toward the ice cream parlor Scooter took Julie's hand. Julie felt her face flush and knew she had a huge smile on her face. She didn't really care. Holding Scooter's hand was a dream come true for her.  
"You played good too Scooter," she said to him looking up at him.  
"I did alright. I would have rather had a shut out but there is always next game," Scooter told her.  
"Hey a goalie can't stop everything," Julie said.  
"Yeah, I guess your right," Scooter said laughing. He planned on enjoying himself tonight despite Riley and Cole.  
  
On Monday afternoon Charlie found himself arriving at the arena twenty minutes early. He was a bundle of nervous energy. He couldn't help but wonder who the new coach was. He figured he would get to the rink early and do a few laps to burn off some of the energy. Besides, he had been kicked out of his dorm room by his roommate because he couldn't keep still. His roommate had said he was driving him crazy.  
Heading for the locker room, Charlie noticed that two people were already out on the ice. As he walked closer to the rink he could see that it was Adam and Goldberg. He had been wondering why Goldberg had been the first one at practice this pass week. Now he knew why. What he didn't know was why he hadn't told anyone he was doing extra practice.  
"Good job today Goldberg," Charlie heard Adam said as he and Goldberg wrapped the practice session up for another day. The two of them were headed toward the gate to exit the ice.  
"Thanks," Goldberg told him. He was finally starting to feel as if he was actually making progress.  
"Hey Charlie," Adam said seeing Charlie as he stepped off the ice. "What are you doing here so early."  
"Anxious about meeting the new coach I guess."  
"Afraid he's going to take the C away?" Adam said with a smile on his face.  
"Very funny."  
"I'm kind of nervous too," Goldberg admitted. "We just got use to Coach Orion and now we have to get use to someone else. What if we get someone really terrible."  
"I think you guys are worry too much," Adam said. "Coach Orion said he thought you guys would like him right. If Orion said that, then this guy can't be all that bad now can he."  
"I hope not," Charlie said.  
Goldberg took a seat on the lowest bench of the stands as Charlie and Adam headed for the locker room. Charlie had to get ready for practice and Adam had to get out of his gear. The walk to the locker room was quiet.  
It wasn't until Adam was gathering his stuff together and putting it in his bag and Charlie was lacing up his skates that Charlie found the courage to ask what he had been wanting to ask.  
"How did practice go Saturday?" Charlie asked.  
"Okay I guess," Adam said. "No one really talked to me but that isn't new. No one mentioned Friday night after the game either. I think the fact that Scooter actually stood up to Riley kind of has everyone on edge."  
"Your not having that much fun on varsity are you?"  
"I never said that," Adam said quickly.  
"You don't have to say it. I can hear it in your voice."  
"Sometimes it seems like I'm skating on the Hawks again," Adam said leaning up against the lockers. "Coach Wilson wants us to win no matter what just like Coach Reilly. If you mess up he has no problem with addressing it right in front of the whole team and you can tell he's upset about it like there is no room for mistakes. It is getting to the point where I'm not having fun when I'm skating."  
"But I thought you enjoyed playing when you were with the Hawks. What's so different now."  
"When I skated with the Hawks that was all I knew. Now I know hockey can be fun even if you don't win but don't ever tell Coach Wilson I said that."  
"Maybe we should all just hope we don't get a coach like him. As long as the coach doesn't take the fun out of playing I guess I can stand whoever we get," Charlie said as other members of the Ducks started coming into the locker room. "Hang in there Adam. Don't let Coach Wilson take away your love for the game," Charlie told him as they headed back out of the locker room.  
By this time Goldberg was back out on the ice. He was working on his backward skating. Charlie said good-bye to Adam and stepped onto the ice himself to start warming up. Instead of leaving Adam climbed up into the stands and took a seat. He had to admit that he was curious as to who the new JV coach was himself.  
Before long the rest of the Ducks had come out of the locker room and had gathered on the ice. Charlie glanced at the clock on the wall. It was a few minutes past the time for practice to start but there was no sign of their new coach.  
"Should we start practicing without him Charlie?" Connie asked.  
"Yeah we do have a game tomorrow," Russ said. "We have to practice tonight."  
"Let's just give it a few more minutes," Charlie said. He had no intention of meeting this new coach like he had met Coach Orion, flat on the ice at Orion's feet. He was hoping the relationship with this new coach would start a little smoother.  
They waited five more minutes but there was still no sign of the new coach. Charlie looked nervously at the clock. How long should they wait.  
"Let's do a few laps to warm up," Charlie told his teammates. Certainly the new coach wouldn't be upset it they were doing laps when he came along.  
They were doing their second lap when they heard a familiar sound. It was a duck call. The Ducks stopped wherever they were at and looked in the direction of the sound. They couldn't believe their eyes. It couldn't be.  
"Come on over here Ducks," Gordon Bombay called out as he stepped out onto the ice and headed for the closest player's box. The Ducks quickly skated over and gathered around him.  
"Are you the new coach?" asked Charlie finally putting to words what they were all wondering.  
"Yeah, I'm taking Orion's place. I told him not to tell you that I wanted to surprise you," Bombay told them.  
"But what about the Junior Goodwill Games," Fulton asked as the cheering started quieting down.  
"It wasn't working out. I wasn't happy there. I missed coaching and I missed you guys," Bombay told them. "Now, I understand that we have a game tomorrow night so let's get to work. We'll start with a scrimmage so I can see what we need to work on. Charlie, Goldberg, Dwayne, Fulton, Ken and Guy will be one team and the rest of you are on the other team."  
He gave them a few minutes to get the red and blue scrimmage jerseys on and to organize their teams. As they got situated Bombay turned around in the player's box where he was standing and called out, "Hey Banks, how about coming down here."  
Adam stood up from where he was sitting and made his way down the stands.  
"Yeah Coach," he said as he approached the bottom.  
"Come join me. Another set of eyes will be useful. You may pick up on things I don't see," Bombay told him.  
"Okay," Adam said already heading over to the gate to join Bombay in the player's box.  
As Adam joined him in the box, Russ and Charlie took their places center ice ready for the face off. Bombay blew his whistle and the scrimmage began.  
'It's great to back', Bombay thought as he watched practice. He had missed coaching as much as he missed playing the game. And he had missed his team. When Orion had called saying he had to go to Baltimore it didn't take much convincing to make him realize that this is where he belonged. 


	5. The Game

"Hey Adam," Linda called as she spotted him through the crowd of kids the following evening. It was fifteen minutes before the start of the JV game and she had let Charlie talk her into coming to another one of his games. He was convinced that she would like the game if she gave it a fair chance. She had to admit she had enjoyed the last couple of games more than she had thought she would.  
She hurried through the crowd to catch up to Adam who had stopped and was waiting for her. "Mind of I sit with you," she asked him. She had spent the last games sitting alone in the stands and wasn't exactly looking forward to repeating the experience.  
"No not at all," Adam said. He had been planning on sitting alone anyway. He had no intention of spending anymore time with Riley and Cole than he had to. He also wanted to be able to cheer for the Ducks. He hadn't even worn his varsity jacket tonight.  
Adam and Charlie found seats up near the top of the stands. From where he was sitting Adam could see the Riley, Cole and several other Varsity players in the middle of the stands and off to his right. Adam could see that Scooter was with them and everything seemed cool between him and Riley.  
Once the game started Adam tried to forget about the Varsity and enjoy the game. Linda kept asking him questions about the game which he was happy to answer. However, he found himself glancing over at the Varsity group from time to time. He noticed that Scooter was cheering every time that Julie made a save. He also noticed that Riley was shooting him evil looks. However, Scooter either didn't notice or chose not to care.  
"Forget about them and enjoy the game," he heard Linda say at one point during the second period. The Ducks were behind three to one at this point in the game and Adam had been watching Riley's group once again.  
"What?" he said not really comprehending what she was saying to him at first.  
"You've spent as much time tonight watching Riley and his goons as you have the game. Most people come to the games to watch the teams play not watch the spectators," Linda told him trying to get a smile out of him.  
"Okay point taken," Adam said smiling. "From now on I'm going to enjoy the game."  
"Good because I'm actually starting to enjoy watching Hockey," Linda said honestly. Now that she understood the game a little bit better she found that it wasn't all that bad.  
"Really, then maybe we should get you out there and give it a try," Adam told her.  
"Not a chance. I said I was enjoying watching Hockey. I have no intention of playing it."  
"Chicken."  
"So what if I am," Linda told him and then got quiet as she noticed that Charlie was heading toward the opposing teams goal on a break away.  
Charlie took the shot but the puck was deflected away by the goalie. Linda groaned with disappointment. However, Guy was able to get control of the deflected puck before any of the defenders. He then passed the puck to Russ who was in position to have a clear shot at he goal. This time the goalie was unable to stop the puck and the Ducks scored bringing the score to three to two. The Ducks were still behind by one point as the second period came to an end.  
The third period was another low scoring period. Though both team were able to take quite a few shots both goalie's were doing a good job at not letting the puck into the goal. Near the end of the period Bombay put Goldberg in as a defense man for the first time in the game. The extra work he had been putting in for the last week paid off as Goldberg was able to get control of the puck from the other team. He passed the puck off to Luis who took it past the center line and into the Ducks attack zone. Seeing two defending players in front of him, Luis passed the puck off to Dwayne who was clear and in a position to shoot the puck. Dwayne's shot went into the net tying the game with three minutes left in the game. Neither team was able to score another goal in the remaining three minutes of the game and the game ended in a tie.  
  
"That wasn't a bad game last night," Coach Bombay told the Ducks at the beginning of practice the following evening.  
"But we tied," Russ said. He couldn't help but be disappointed in the game the night before especially since he could think of several mistakes he had made during it.  
"So what," Bombay. "You guys played hard and didn't give up even when you made mistakes, and yes I did see plenty of mistakes out there. I think most of you probably even know what those mistakes were whether they were made by you or a teammate. It was those little mistakes that kept you from winning. But now we know what we need to work on to keep those mistakes from happening again."  
"Now, I've recruited a little coaching help from the varsity," Bombay continued indicating Adam who was standing behind him. Adam still had his skates and his hockey stick with him but other than that was in his street clothes. "So we're going to split up into two groups. Goldberg, Ken, Luis, Averman and Guy, you'll work with Adam on passing. The rest of you are with me. Let's go."  
The Ducks split up into the two groups that Bombay had put them into. The Ducks with Adam jokingly gave him a hard time as they headed down to the far side of the ice. But once he had them paired off they started getting serious. Because of the odd number Adam paired off with Averman for the passing drills.  
On the other end of the ice Bombay had them working on defense and shooting which also gave Julie some practice. Gordon had them start at the blue line on that end of the ice and then go one on one toward the goal. The offensive player was trying to score a goal while the defensive player was to try to either get control of the puck or keep the offensive guy from scoring.  
They stayed in these groups for about half the practice and then they switched for the rest of practice. After Bombay dismissed the team to the locker room Adam joined him at one of the player's bench.  
"What do you think they're talking about?" Averman said to no one in particular as the headed toward the locker room. He couldn't help but glance over his shoulder one more time at Bombay and Banks.  
"Ah probably us, Averman," Russ told him.  
"Doesn't that bother you?" Averman asked.  
"No why should it? Bombay's our coach and Banks is helping him out. They're suppose to be talking about us."  
"Its no different than if we had to coaches," Connie said.  
"Yeah Banks has always helped us out with things even when he was skating with us," Charlie said.  
"But he wasn't whispering with the coach about us," Averman said.  
"Your being paranoid," Charlie told him.  
"No Averman is just afraid Adam is telling Bombay not to let Averman play because he can't pass the puck," Guy said as they started taking off their hockey gear. "How many pucks did Adam have to go chase anyway?"  
"Yeah, you did realize he was the one you were suppose to be passing the puck to not Ken or Guy right Averman," Luis said.  
"I was nervous," Averman said defensively.  
"It's just Adam," Charlie told him. "It's not like Bombay got Riley to help him coach. There is nothing to be nervous about."  
"Easy for you to say, Charlie. Without Banks on the team you're the star player," Averman said.  
"What's that suppose to mean Averman?"  
"Nothing," Averman said quickly seeing that Charlie was starting to lose his temper. Even after four years he was still sensitive about any implication of him being the Coach's pet. Yeah, he had a special bond with Coach Bombay but Bombay didn't play favorites. And he wasn't the only one that was close to the Coach. Bombay and Adam had a unique relationship to that Charlie thought came from the similarities they shared. Both of them had skated on the Hawks under Reilly, came from families that had money, and Bombay understood the pressure Adam felt to make his dad proud of him. Charlie didn't have a dad to have to worry about that. He really didn't care about what his step dad thought.  
"Come on guys," Connie said trying to diffuse the situation. "This line of conversation is ridiculous."  
"Yeah, lets just get changed and then go get some dinner. I'm starved," Russ said.  
The Ducks got changed and as a group headed out of the locker room. Bombay and Adam were standing outside waiting for them.  
"Anyone up for pizza, my treat?" Gordon asked them. He received a chorus of yeses from his players. "Okay then take your stuff back to your rooms and then meet me at my van in the main parking lot," Gordon told them.  
  
"Hey Coach Banks come join us," Charlie called out from the common room of the dorm as he saw Adam walking by the door way Friday evening. Charlie, Fulton, Russ and Dwayne were getting ready to start a game of monopoly. Some other kids were gathered around the television watching a movie.  
By this time all of the Ducks, even Averman, were use to Adam helping out with the coaching. In fact it had been Averman who had jokingly started calling Adam, Coach Banks during their Wednesday practice. The nickname had stuck. Adam had to admit that he liked that nickname better than the other two his friends usually used -cake-eater and preppie.  
"Sorry, but I need to go get a start on my weekend homework," Adam answered stopping in the doorway. "I've got that away game tomorrow afternoon and I don't want to have everything to do on Sunday."  
"Suit yourself," Russ said. He personally couldn't even imagine touching a schoolbook on a Friday evening.  
After some fighting over the race car piece (it was finally decided that no one would have it) they started the game. After awhile other members of the team drifted into the room and started watching the game which Dwayne was winning. Connie and Guy were the first two who were coming back from their date to the movies. Julie came in shortly after them. She had went out to dinner with Scooter after practice.  
Fulton was the first one to go out. He had just landed on Dwayne's boardwalk which though didn't put him out of the game had left him with no money. He made it to New York Ave before landing on something that he didn't own. New York Ave had a hotel on it too and belonged to Russ. Getting Fulton's properties gave Russ the green monopoly which he immediately built up. Right after Russ had put a hotel on it Charlie landed Pennsylvania Ave. effectively taking him out of the game. That left Russ and Dwayne to battle it out. Despite Russ owning more properties Dwayne still managed to win the game. By this time it was eleven o'clock. The movie had ended awhile ago and the Ducks were now the only ones left in the common room.  
"Well I'm going to get to bed," Charlie said as he helped clean up the board game. "Coach Bombay and I are going to go watch the Varsity's game tomorrow afternoon. See ya," Charlie said leaving the common room and heading up to his room.  
The others talked for a little while and then one by one headed up to bed themselves.  
"So tell me about your date," Connie said to Julie as they headed to the room they shared on the first floor. "Has he kissed you yet?"  
"It was only our first date," Julie told her. "That is if you don't count last Friday when he came for ice cream with all of us, which I don't."  
"Yeah, definitely not a date with the rest of your hockey team hanging around huh," Connie said thinking about the almost kisses that had been ruin by one or more members of the team showing up at the wrong time. By this time they had reached their room and Connie shut and locked the door behind them. "So did he hold your hand?"  
"Yes, we held hands walking to the diner and walking home."  
"You walked? But doesn't Scooter have his own car?"  
"Yeah, but he said he wanted to walk so that we could spend more time together."  
"Oh, that is so sweet!"  
"So how was the movie," Julie asked Connie trying to get the subject off her date with Scooter.  
"It was great. Except for the pain in my neck from Guy having his arm draped over my shoulders the entire time. At least he didn't try kissing me during the good parts of the movie like he usually does," Connie told her making Julie laugh.  
"Aren't you suppose to cuddle and kiss at the movies," Julie said when she had stopped laughing.  
"Yeah, but I still like to enjoy the movie too."  
The two girls got ready for bed but stayed up chatting long into the night.  
  
"Are we loss?" Charlie asked. He and Bombay were on there way to the Varsity game at Sutton Academy the following afternoon.  
"No we're not loss," Gordon told him keeping his eye on the road. "What's the name of the road coming up on the right?"  
"Saw Mill Road," Charlie said when he was close enough to read the sign.  
"There's a Saw Mill Road around here," Gordon said under his breath.  
"Great, we're loss," Charlie said overhearing him. "Instead of watching a hockey game I'm going to spend my Saturday afternoon wandering around the countryside."  
"Okay, okay, okay! Get the map out," Gordon told him pulling the van off to the side of the road.  
As he put the van in park Charlie handed him the map. Gordon took a few minutes to figure out where they actually were. Charlie took in the scenery as he waited.  
"This was a great short-cut coach," he said innocently.  
"Very funny," Gordon told him. "Well we're not to far off from where we should be. If we take the next road on the left we'll get back to Rt. 10 and I do know the way from there," Gordon said handing the map back to Charlie.  
"Did I say anything."  
"No but I know you wanted to," Gordon said as he pulled the van back onto the road. Charlie just smiled. "We'll still be at Sutton Academy in time for the game."  
The rest of the drive to Sutton academy was uneventful and Charlie and Bombay took their seats in the stands with fifteen minutes left until game time. Even though it was an away team a lot of students from Eden Hall had traveled to see the Varsity play and the stands were getting full.  
The game started and right from the start the Eden Hall Warriors took control of the puck. Within the first three minutes they had scored. From the beginning of the game it appeared as if the Warriors were going to have an easy win. By the end of the first period the score was five to zero.  
The second period was a repeat of the first period. The Sutton Academy Rams just couldn't seem to mount an attack against the Warriors goal. There goalie, however, was doing a better job at stopping the shots taken by the Warriors. The first eight minutes of the period went without a point being scored by either team.  
Adam was put into the game with at that time. It didn't take long for Adam to score a goal with the assistance of Kilpatrick who was skating as the right wing. On the face-off the Rams center got control of the puck and headed for the Warriors defense zone. As the Ram center went to pass to his right wing Adam was able to intercept the pass regaining control of the puck for his team down near the Warriors goal.  
Charlie let out a groan though as the Ram's right wing checked Adam sending Adam to the ice. He watched as the players scrambled for the puck and Kilpatrick ended up with control of the puck. As he watched the play move down into the Warriors attack zone he heard Bombay next to him quietly say "come on stop the game."  
Charlie looked back to the Warriors defending zone to see that Adam was still down. As the referee finally blew his whistle stopping the game Adam tried to get back up but immediately went down again.  
"Damn," he heard Bombay say as he made his way out of the stands. Charlie looked from Bombay back to the ice. Scooter was kneeling down by Adam now and the referee was motioning in the paramedics. The other players had gathered near their respective benches. Coach Wilson was still in his teams box.  
As the medics came into to tend to Adam Charlie started making his way out of the stands. He figured Bombay would be hanging around near the entrance to the rink so once he was out of the stands he started heading in that direction. 


	6. Waiting

Charlie arrived at the rink entrance as they were bringing Adam off the ice on a stretcher. The medics had already removed his skate and shin guard on his left leg so Charlie figured that was the side the injury was on.  
"How bad is he hurt," Bombay asked the closest paramedic.  
"Who are you?" the paramedic asked him looking at Gordon Bombay.  
"I'm Eden Hall's junior varsity coach," Gordon told them.  
"He injured his knee, to what extent we don't know. We're going to take him to County Hospital and let them run some tests," the paramedic told him. "You can ride with us if you want."  
"No, I got my own vehicle. I'll go over on my own," Gordon told him. "Hang in there son," he told Adam putting a hand on his shoulder.  
Adam just nodded to his former coach. Bombay could see the tears in his eyes that Adam was fighting to hold back. Bombay backed away from the stretcher and let the paramedics leave.  
He turned around looking for Charlie. Seeing him standing near by he motioned to him. "Come on. Let's head for the hospital."  
Bombay and Charlie silently headed out to Bombay's van. The ride over to the hospital was quiet. Neither of them knew what to say.  
At the hospital, Gordon parked the van and headed for the ER. He went directly to the desk in the ER waiting room.  
"The ambulance just brought a hockey player in from the game over at Sutton Academy. His name is Adam Banks."  
"And you are?"  
"Gordon Bombay. I'm a hockey coach at the boy's school."  
"Okay, hold on," the clerk who was at the desk said as she checked some chart. "Yes we do have an Adam Banks. They've already taken him to radiology to do x-rays. If you'll have a seat I'll let you know as soon as there is any other information."  
"Okay, thank-you. Do you have a phone I can use. I'ld like to call the boy's parents and let them know."  
"Yeah, go ahead and use that one," the clerk told him indicating the phone on the desk.  
"Thanks," Gordon said as he picked up the receiver and dialed Banks' home phone number. He let it ring eight times but got no answer. He hung up and headed over to where Charlie had found a seat. Gordon sat down next to him.  
"Do they know anything?"Charlie asked his Coach as he sat down next to him.  
"No, not yet," Gordon told him.  
The two sat in silence after that. After about five minutes Gordon got up and started pacing back and forth in the waiting room. Charlie kept looking up at the clock on the wall which didn't seem to be moving at all. After fifteen minutes Gordon tried Adam's parents again and again got no answer.  
As he was hanging the phone up a second time a nurse came into the waiting room.  
"Mr. Bombay," the nurse said looking around.  
"I'm Gordon Bombay," he said walking over toward her.  
"Adam's back from radiology. The doctor is examining the x-ray's now but if you'ld like to go in and see him you can," she told him.  
"Okay, give me a minute," Gordon told her and then headed back over to where Charlie was sitting. "They still don't know anything but I'm going to go in and be with Adam. Will you be okay out here?"  
"Yeah," Charlie told him.  
"Okay, I'll let you know as soon as we know anything," Gordon told him and then walked back over to where the nurse was waiting to take him back to where Adam was.  
She led him to the curtained off area that Adam was waiting in. Adam was sitting up in the hospital bed his left leg elevated. Gordon could see that the knee was bruised and swollen underneath the ice pack that was on it.  
"Hi coach," Adam said as he noticed Gordon coming through the curtain. I guess this isn't how you planned on spending your Saturday is it?"  
"No," Gordon admitted. "You in much pain?"  
"No, the painkillers they gave me are working pretty good," Adam admitted. "I just wish they would hurry up and tell me what's wrong."  
"It's going to take time Adam. They want to make sure they don't miss anything," Gordon told him as he came over to stand next to the bed. "I tried to get a hold of your parents but I didn't get an answer. I'll try again in a little bit."  
"I'ld rather you wait until we know something. What are they going to be able to do. Sit around waiting and worrying with us. I'll call them tonight."  
"Okay," Gordon said. "You were doing great out there Adam."  
At first Adam didn't say anything but then he asked in a wavery voice "do you think I'm going to play again."  
"Of course you are," Gordon told him placing a hand on his shoulder. "It may be awhile but you'll play again. If I wanted to I could go back to the minors and play again and I probably would have if I was younger."  
Adam reached up and quickly wiped a away a tear from his cheek.  
"Adam Banks," a doctor said coming into the curtained area. "I'm Dr. Brown. Is this your father?"  
"No, this is Coach Bombay. My dad doesn't know about what happened yet," Adam said.  
"I've tried to reach him by phone but haven't got an answer," Bombay told him.  
"Okay, do you want your Coach to stay?"  
"Yeah," Adam said not wanting to hear the news by himself.  
"Alright, then this is where we stand right now," Dr. Brown told them. "The x-rays have come back negative which means that there are no bones broken. I had an orthopedist take a look at the x-rays to for a second opinion just to be sure. However, x-rays don't show everything. There could still be damage to the ligaments or cartilage in the knee. I have you scheduled for an MRI in a half hour which is the quickest they could get you in. We'll see where we stand once we get the results from that."  
Dr. Brown left after that leaving Bombay and Adam alone again.  
"Okay, I'm going to go take Charlie back to Eden Hall and then I'll come back to be here with you okay," Bombay told him.  
Adam just nodded. He didn't trust his voice at this point. He was afraid if he tried to say anything he would start crying.  
"Hang in there, Adam," Gordon told him as he left and headed back out to the waiting room. Charlie was still sitting in the same seat as when Gordon had left him. When he saw Gordon come back into the waiting room he stood up and meet him part way.  
"Is he okay?"  
"All they know for sure is that there are no broken bones. They're going to run some more tests still," Gordon told him. "I'm going to go ahead and take you back to Eden Hall and then come back."  
"I'ld rather wait."  
"It could be awhile Charlie."  
"So."  
"I'm taking you back," Gordon said in a tone that told Charlie that he wasn't going to get anywhere arguing. His coach had already made up his mind.  
The ride back to Eden Hall was silent. Bombay didn't know what to say and Charlie wasn't in the mood to talk. As Charlie got out of the van in the parking lot in front of Charlie's dorm Bombay finally broke the silence.  
"Charlie you staying at the hospital would accomplish nothing. You would have just been sitting in the waiting room."  
"So I can just sit around here and wait instead of in the waiting room. I don't see the difference."  
"The difference is you can let the others know what happened. Other than that they are just going to hear about what happened from someone who was at the game. I'll call as soon as I know anything, okay."  
"Okay," Charlie said. He shut the door and headed into the dorm.  
Because it was Saturday afternoon the dorm was quiet. Kids were out enjoying the weekend. Charlie headed for his room listening to the silence. When he walked into his room he found his roommate, Guy, laying on his bed reading the book.  
"Hey Charlie," Guy said looking over the top of his book as Charlie sat down on his bed. "How did the game go?"  
"I don't know. We left during the second period." Charlie told Guy about what happened at the game and as much as he knew about Adam's condition which wasn't much.  
"So Coach Bombay is going to call when he knows something right?"  
"Yeah," Charlie said trying to figure out where his roommate was going with this.  
"Okay, so lets go down to the common room and watch some tv and wait by the phone instead of up here," Guy said marking his place and placing the book on his desk as he headed out of the room. Charlie reluctantly followed him. He wasn't in the mood to watch tv.  
In the common room Guy put the tv on and took a seat on the couch. Charlie sat down next to him but didn't really have any idea what Guy had put on. Charlie found himself staring at the phone in the corner willing it to ring.  
Fifteen minutes later Fulton and Portman wander in from whatever they were out doing. Charlie and Guy both thought it was better not to ask questions when it came to the two Bash brothers. They could have been up to just about anything. Charlie found himself repeating what he had already told Guy.  
Shortly after that Julie and Connie came in followed by Scooter. The Varsity team had just arrived back on campus from the game which they had won. Julie and Connie already knew about what had happened at the game from Scooter so Charlie just filled them in on what he knew about Adam's condition.  
"Coach Wilson headed back to the hospital as soon as the bus got back here," Scooter said.  
"Yeah, now that he won he can spare the time," Charlie said bitterly thinking about Coach Wilson talking with team while Adam was laying on the ice hurt. Scooter knew where the comment was coming from but chose to ignore. He really couldn't blame Charlie for feeling the way he did.  
Before anyone could say anything else the phone rang. Charlie sprang off the couch and answered the phone. Listening to Charlie's side of the conversation the rest of them could tell that it was Bombay on the other end of the line but couldn't really follow the conversation beyond that.  
"What's the news?" Guy asked as Charlie hung up the phone. They could tell from the look on Charlie's face that the news wasn't all that good.  
"They still aren't sure of the extent of the injury," Charlie told his friends. "Bombay said that the MRI showed some damage to the ligaments in the knee. Right now the doctors are putting a brace on the knee and Adam will have to keep weight off it for about the next week. He's suppose to go back and see an orthopedist again on Friday and they'll see where to go from there."  
The room was quiet. No one knew what to say but they all knew that Adam was going to need a lot of support and help in the next week and maybe even after that. Eventually the other ducks started filtering in -some knowing nothing about what had happened and other having heard rumors from people on campus who had gone to the game.  
By the time Bombay brought Adam back the whole team had gathered. Scooter had left feeling out of place among the Ducks. They were all gathered in the common room discussing thing they could do to help out when Adam came into the building on crutches with Bombay right behind him with Adam's stuff, which he had picked up from the arena after bringing Charlie back to the dorm earlier.  
As soon as they saw Adam all of the Ducks got to their feet and were soon surrounding him and asking him how he was. It was Bombay who put a stopped to it.  
"How about you all let Adam go to his room and rest right now," Bombay told them knowing that Adam was tired and that the pain medication was probably starting to wear off.  
The Ducks backed off and let Adam head up to his room. Although it wasn't used often the building did have a elevator. Bombay handed Charlie and Russ Adam's things and let them follow Adam up to his room while he left to get the prescriptions filled. 


	7. After Time

Adam called his parents later that evening. At first his dad was going to drive out to Eden Hall that night. Adam insisted that he was okay and with the help of his mother convinced him to wait until tomorrow. Adam just wasn't up to seeing his parents that night. His mother would start baby him and all his father would talk about would be his future in hockey. All Adam really wanted was to be left alone.  
On Sunday Mr. And Mrs. Banks showed up at Eden Hall around ten o'clock in the morning. After checking on there son they headed over to the Dean's office. Philip Banks had called Dean Buckley the evening before after getting off the phone with his son and arranged a meeting with the dean.  
Philip Banks wanted to take his son out of Eden Hall while he was recovering from his injury. He planed on getting tutors and keeping Adam at home so that nothing else would happen while Adam healed. His wife remained silent while Philip argued with the Dean. In the end Dean Buckley convinced Philip Banks that it would be in Adam's best interest to stay at the school. He reassured Mr. And Mrs. Banks that the school realized that Adam might not being able to get from class to class in the normal time allotted and that concessions would be made for him. He also pointed out that Adam had plenty of friends who would be willing to help him out. An hour after going into the Dean's office the Banks finally left and went back to be with their son for awhile.  
Adam went out to dinner with his parents that evening. He said good- bye to his parents in the car when they brought him back to the dorm after convincing them that he would be fine going inside by himself.  
Being a Sunday evening the dorm were quiet because most of the students were in their rooms or at the library doing their homework or study for the next days classes. Having finished his homework last evening Adam had the evening free. He went into the common room and turned on the tv and then got comfortable on the couch.  
It wasn't long before he heard footsteps coming down the steps. As he looked back at the door he saw Charlie come into the common room. Charlie carefully sat down at he end of the couch.  
"I've had it. Either I'm ready for that test tomorrow or I'm not," Charlie said referring to the history test that they had the next day.  
"You'll do fine," Adam said changing channels on the tv.  
"Easy for you to say," Charlie said. "I don't know how you can keep all the dates straight. Why does it matter when things happened anyways. Isn't it enough if that we know they happened?"  
"It's history Charlie."  
"So?"  
Adam just shook his head and then turned his attention to the television. They watched the television in silence for a little while and then Charlie asked, "so how was dinner with your parents?"  
"Okay though I still think my Dad would rather have me at home. He's more worried about my hockey career than he is me."  
"Don't say that Adam."  
"Why not? It's true. Ever since my older brother decided to go to law school my Dad has pushed me to do well in hockey. Sometimes I feel like I'm following my father's dream not mine."  
"You don't want to play professional hockey?" Charlie asked.  
"I'm not sure what I want anymore. I've spent so much time following my dad's goals for me I think I lost track of my own."  
Charlie didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. He loved hockey. He knew it was what he wanted to do with his life even though his mom was insisting on him to go to college. To have a back up plan. He knew she wanted him to be happy but she also wanted him to have options if he didn't make it in hockey. Adam had the natural talent that he always wished he had. Charlie had always worked hard at what seemed to come easy to Adam.  
  
The week seemed to go by slowly for Adam. Even with his friends helping him by carrying his books he still found getting around on the crutches in the crowded hallways of Eden Hall Academy difficult. Even with leaving classes a few minutes early he still found that he was late for the next class more often than he was on time. But like Dean Buckley had promised his parents the teachers said nothing about it.  
Very few of the varsity hockey players even asked him how he was though there were a few exceptions. Scooter had stopped by on Sunday to see how he was doing. On Monday Kilpatrick and Brown asked him how he was doing when they passed him in the cafeteria. Other than that the varsity hockey players just ignored him.  
The afternoons seemed empty without hockey practice but he wasn't about to go watch. He didn't even go to the Ducks practices even though several of the Ducks kept trying to get him to come. Wednesday even Bombay tried to convince to come to the practice saying that he missed having Adam helping him out. Adam told him he wasn't up to it and Coach Bombay left it at that.  
On Thursday evening the Ducks had a home game. Adam told his friends he was tired and wanted to stay home and rest. Adam didn't think that they looked convinced but they didn't push too far. Linda even stopped by before the game and asked Adam to come with her. Adam had a feeling that Charlie had put her up to it and politely declined the invitation.  
Around nine thirty that night Adam was in his room reading when the Ducks came back from their game. Steve had propped the door to their room open so Adam could hear their conversation as they came up onto the second floor of the dorm. He could tell by their conversation that they had lost the game.  
"That was pathetic tonight," Dean Portman said.  
"I know. I think District Five made a comeback tonight," Averman said referring to the team back when they had played in pee-wees before Bombay had taken over.  
"Yeah, but at least Julie was attempting to stop the puck," Guy said looking at Goldberg who had been afraid of the puck when they played as District Five.  
"Hey I wasn't goalie tonight," Goldberg said defensively.  
"No but you still couldn't get a hold of the puck tonight," Guy told him. "Offense can't make an attack if defense can't get us control of the puck."  
"Well sorry, but I don't seem to remember you getting control of the puck at any face-offs," Goldberg shot back. "You know its easier to play the game if you're standing on two feet not laying on the ice."  
"Very funny," Guy said.  
"Face it guys," Russ said. "None of us was playing well tonight. I think we are all distracted."  
"Yeah, and I think its because Banks bailed on us again," Fulton said. "Even with him just helping Bombay out it still seemed like he was part of the team."  
"Yeah, now he doesn't want anything to do with us even though we've been trying to help him out," Guy commented.  
"Give him a break guys," Charlie said. "He's going through a rough time right now." He was just as disappointed in the loss as the rest of them but he wasn't going to blame it on Banks. They had defeated themselves. Yeah Adam's behavior this past week did have him distracted but he only had himself to blame for not concentrating on the game tonight. "He'll be back when he's ready."  
The group fell silent as they all made their way into their own rooms. Adam tried to go back to his book but after rereading the same page twice he gave up and closed the book. Steve was still working on his homework at his desk but Adam turned out his bedside lamp and laid down. He really wasn't tired anyways he just wanted to think about things. 


	8. Reaching an Understanding

"That was a great movie wasn't it," Linda said as she and Charlie walked across the Eden Hall campus the next night. They were walking back to the dorms after their date. "Earth to Charlie," Linda said, waving her hand in front of his face when he didn't answer.  
"What?" Charlie said distractedly. "I'm sorry. I guess I haven't been very good company tonight have I," he told her taking her hand in his.  
"No you haven't," Linda admitted. "What's wrong?"  
"I don't know? I guess I just have other things on my mind."  
"You're worried about Adam, aren't you?"  
"Yeah, I guess I am. He's been avoiding everything to do with hockey this week and not just our game Thursday evening either. He won't talk about it. If hockey comes up in a conversation he comes up with some excuse to leave. The couple of times I've tried bringing it up with him he changes the subject. I think if he had any friends outside of the Ducks he would probably even be avoided us too."  
"Maybe this is his way of dealing with things."  
"He isn't dealing with anything he's avoiding it."  
"You've never tried to deal with something by avoided it."  
"Well yes, but it never worked," Charlie admitted.  
"You've known him longer than I have Charlie but even I know how important hockey is to him. It means more to Adam than it does you even though you love the game."  
As he listened to Linda's words he found himself thinking about the Junior Goodwill Games. They had all been excited to be there but only Adam had been searching the stands for the scouts. Adam definitely took the game more seriously than any of the rest of them.  
"I sure hope that he got good news at the doctor's today," Charlie said.  
As Charlie and Linda approached the dorm building they saw Connie and Guy sitting on the steps outside talking.  
"Hey guys, what are the two of you doing out here?" Charlie asked  
"Avoiding the others," Guy replied looking up at him. " Adam wouldn't talk to any of us when he got back from the doctor's office earlier. Fuss, Averman, Dean, and Fulton have been complaining about it ever since and are still blaming Thursdays loss on him. Connie and I couldn't take it anymore so we came out here."  
"This is ridiculous," Charlie said as he leaned up against the building.  
"I have to say I don't blame them for felling hurt," Connie said. "I'm hurt by Adam not talking to us. We've been trying to help him out all week."  
"How was the movie?" Guy asked trying to change the subject. He had got away from the others to avoid this conversation earlier and he still didn't want to have it.  
"It was great," Linda told him and then started telling him about it. Charlie had to admit to himself that he hadn't really paid attention to the movie so he let Linda do all the talking.  
"Sounds like a great movie," Connie said when Linda was finished. "We'll have to go see it," she told Guy.  
"Yeah, I guess its your choice next time anyway," Guy said. The movie hadn't sounded all that interesting to him but he wasn't going to come right out and say it. He was starting to learn when not to even argue with Connie about something.  
Before anything else could be said the door to the dorm opened and Adam's roommate came out of the door.  
"Hey Steve," Charlie said.  
"Somebody really needs to talk to your friend," Steve said in response to Charlie's greeting. "Sure we never talk much but I really don't like being ignored or getting snapped at. All I did was ask him how everything was and he went off on me and now he's pretending I don't exist. I got to get out of that room."  
He didn't even wait for a reply from any of them as he stormed off in the direction of the library. The four of them watched him disappeared into the night.  
"That didn't sound good," Guy said.  
"You can say that again," Charlie said. "Maybe I'll go talk to him."  
"Be careful," Connie said.  
Charlie just shot her a look. "I'll talk to you tomorrow," he said turning to Linda and giving he a quick kiss on the cheek.  
"Okay," Linda told him. Saying good-bye to Connie and Guy she headed over to her dorm building next door as Charlie headed inside his dorm.  
As he walked by the common room he could still hear his teammates in there talking about Adam and the past week. He just shook his head and kept walking. He knew they would come around eventually. Charlie hurried up the stairs and made his way to Adam's room and knocked on the door.  
"Go away," was the response he got to his second knock.  
"It's Charlie, Adam. I'm not going anywhere until you talk to me," Charlie called back through the door. There was no immediate response but just as Charlie was about to knock on the door Adam finally opened the door.  
After opening the door he immediately turned away from Charlie and sat down on his bed. He was still on the crutches and Charlie had seen the tears as he turned away. Charlie quietly made his way into the room and shut the door behind him. Now that he was actually in the room he wasn't sure what to do next.  
There were a few moments of awkward quiet in the room after Charlie shut the door. Charlie finally walked over and sat down next to Adam.  
"What did the doctor tell you?" he finally asked.  
"He said my knee was healing well but its still going to be a couple of weeks until the brace can come off and then I'll have to do physical therapy to build the muscles back up. He said I'll probably be able to get back on skates in about three weeks but will have to take practices easy for awhile after that."  
"That's good news isn't. You'll still be back skating before the end of the season."  
Adam shook his head at Charlie's comment. "Coach Wilson said even if the doctor releases me to practice with the team he won't let me skate until I'm one hundred percent. He said he can't waste his time with a player who isn't able to pull his weight."  
"He can't do that can he?" Charlie asked getting angry.  
"Yes he can. My Dad already talked to the dean and the dean told him that Coach Wilson had the discretion of when injured players come back. If I can't practice with the team then I can't get back to be one hundred percent. The season is over for me."  
"There is always next year," Charlie said trying to console his friend.  
"It's not fair," Adam said again. " I feel like I'm letting everyone down. I'm letting my Dad down and the team. I've let you and the rest of the Ducks down."  
The last part of his comment caught Charlie's attention.  
"What are you talking about? You haven't let us down."  
"I heard you guys talking after the game yesterday evening. Steve had left the door open I couldn't help but hear what you guys were saying."  
"Oh man," Charlie said feeling really bad even though the comments about Adam had been made by his teammate not him. "We were all frustrated after the game. No one meant anything that was said."  
"No, Fulton said I bailed on you guys and I have this week. I couldn't deal with seeing you guys on the ice when I didn't know when or if I would be able to play again so I avoided everything to do with hockey. When I started helping Bombay out I made a commitment to the team again and I didn't fulfill that commitment."  
"Adam no one feels that you've left them down. They're hurt because they feel like you've been shutting us out. Even Connie said that to me earlier this evening."  
"I guess maybe I owe you guys an apology then."  
"No you don't. Because that stuff that you overheard never should have been said. If anything we owe you an apology. Just let us be there for you Adam. That is what friends are for."  
The two were quiet for a little while but the silence didn't seem awkward. Both seemed to realize that it was needed. It was again Charlie who broke the silence.  
"So you want to tell them what you found out today or do you want me to do it?" Charlie asked.  
"Could you? I don't think I want to repeat everything again."  
"Sure," Charlie told him. "If you need me you know where to find me," Charlie told him standing up and leaving the room. In his mind Charlie had an idea of how he could make Adam feel better but he knew he wouldn't to be able to pull it off on his own. He had to get somebody to help him out and he knew who he needed to ask to help him pull it off.  
That would have to wait for the next day for him to get started. Right now though he had to gather the Ducks that he could find and start setting things right. They had a game on Monday night and if they were going to win it they couldn't be distracted like they had been the night before. 


	9. From Warrior to Duck

Adam smoothed things over with Steve later that night when Steve came back from the library. Early Saturday morning his mother came to pick him up so he could spend the weekend at home. Adam just felt like he had to get away from things for a little while. They didn't talk to much on the way home. Adam knew she knew about Coach Wilson's decision. His parents talked about everything to each other and his Dad had not been happy after talking to Wilson the afternoon before and even less happy after talking with the Dean. In fact, later that evening Philip Banks told his son that he had talked to both parties again and neither one would change their position. Adam waited for his Dad to tell him he wasn't going to go back to Eden Hall Academy but luckily it was never mentioned.  
Adam stayed at his home until Monday morning. His mother dropped him back off at Eden Hall in time for his first class.  
"Bye Mom," he called as he got out of the car. As she waved back he turned and headed for the academic building of Eden Hall.  
"Hey kid," Adam heard as someone fell in step beside him. He looked over to see Scooter walking beside him. Julie was on the other side of Scooter. "I think its rotten what Wilson is doing," Scooter told him.  
Not knowing what to say Adam just nodded. He still wasn't sure how to take Scooter and he also didn't really want to talk about Coach Wilson or the varsity hockey team.  
"Look, when you get back to skating if you want someone to train with just let me know. I would be willing to help you out and I've talked to Kilpatrick and Brown and they said they would be willing to help out to."  
"I'll keep it in mind," Adam told him. "Thanks."  
"I got to get to my class," Scooter told them when they had walked into the building. "Catch you later," he told Julie giving her a quick kiss on the cheek as he headed down the hallway in the opposite direction that Julie and Adam had to go.  
Adam and Julie walked to their first class together.  
  
The Ducks had another home game on Wednesday night. They thought about asking Adam if he was coming but decided against it. Things were going well between them and Adam and they didn't want to get anything started again. In fact the whole week they had been avoiding talking about practice or anything to do with hockey when Adam was around.  
By this time they all knew Charlie was up to something but didn't know what it was and Charlie wouldn't even drop a hint. He told them they would know what it was when the time was right. They were all pretty sure that Bombay was involved in whatever it was but their Coach was being as quiet about it as Charlie was.  
"Hey everyone," Averman said as they stepped out on the ice that evening for warm-ups. "Look who came to the game."  
The rest of the Ducks looked in the direction that Averman was pointing to see Adam sitting in the stands with Scooter. The two of them saw the Ducks looking in their direction and waved to them. The Ducks waved back and then started their warm-up.  
The first period of the game didn't go much better than their last game had. By the end of the first period they were behind four to zero. After a quick pep talk from their coach in between periods they went into the second period determined to catch up. The beginning of the second period though wasn't going much better for them though. The Ducks offense was unable to get a good shot at the JV Ram's goal. However, they were playing better defense and the Rams were also unable to score any more goals.  
With four minutes left to the second period Charlie was finally able to score a goal against the Rams. That goal seemed to be a turning point for the Ducks as they were able to score two more goals in the final minutes of the second period bringing the score to four to three still in favor of the Rams.  
Though they mounted a couple of good attacks on the Ram's goal as the third period began they were unable to make a goal and the score remained four to three for most of the period. In the final couple of minutes of the game though Dwayne was able to get out on a break away. He took a shot at the opposing goal and scored tying the game.  
Charlie looked at the clock to see that there was only a little over a minute left in the final period.  
"Let's just try to keep them from scoring guys," he told his teamates quickly as they headed for center ice for the face off. "A tie is better than another loss."  
"Right," Dwayne, Guy, Goldberg and Connie said in agreement.  
Charlie was able to get control of the puck on the face off and sent it over to Guy. The five members of the Ducks passed the puck between them keeping control of the puck until the clock ran out ending the game in a four to four tie. The tie kept them from losing any positions in the league standings.  
  
As they were wrapping up practice on the following Monday afternoon the Ducks were surprised to see Adam walk into the arena.  
"Hey, Adam," the Ducks who saw him called out interrupting what Bombay had been saying to them. The rest of the team turned as Adam came into the players box.  
"What happened to the crutches?" Russ asked noticing that though Adam still wore the brace he didn't have his crutches with him.  
"The doctor said I didn't need them anymore," Adam said with a smile. "In fact I start physical therapy on Wednesday," he told them. He had been thrilled when the doctor told him that his knee had healed faster than the he had expected though he still cautioned Adam to take it easy. Adam had been so excited he knew he had to share the news with his friends and so he had his mother drop him off at the ice arena instead of his dorm.  
"That's great news," Bombay said voicing everyone's thoughts. Bombay quickly finished what he had been telling the team and then dismissed them.  
  
"Adam I'ld like to talk to you for a few minutes," Bombay said as the Ducks headed for the locker room.  
"What's up Coach?" Adam asked when the two were alone in the player's box.  
"Let's sit down," Bombay said sitting down on the bench and motioned to Adam to sit down beside him. When Adam was sitting down beside him he continued.  
"I've been talking to Dean Buckley this past week and considering Coach Wilson's stand on you skating on varsity this season I've gotten him to agree to let you come back on JV. I realize this isn't fair to you because you belong on Varsity. No matter what anyone says you earned your spot on that team this year. However, I think that Coach Wilson is determined not to let you skate the rest of the season no matter how hard you try to get back on the team. If you come back to JV for the rest of the season you'll at least have a chance to play some more this season and I'm sure you'll be back on varsity next year. What do you say?"  
"Yeah, I'ld like to come back to JV for the rest of the season," Adam said. Although he couldn't help but think that he was letting Riley, Cole and the rest of the Varsity win. He was quitting which was what they had wanted all along. But still, skating with the Ducks was going to be a lot more fun.  
"Okay, even though you're not skating right now I still expect you to be at practices and games unless of course you're therapy sessions or a doctor appointment interfere with that. I'm not going to take any chances and I'm not going to let you take any chances. You won't skate until the Doctor clears you for practice and then for games. That means if you don't get clearance you might not play this season but at least you'll have a chance and you will be part of this team."  
"Thanks, Coach," Adam said. "I'll be here tomorrow afternoon. I may be late Wednesday but I'll be here as soon as I can after physical therapy," Adam told him. His mother was driving him again and he knew it the session was going to run close to the Ducks practice time.  
"That's fine," Bombay told him. "Welcome back," he said smiling. "I think your teammates are waiting for you," he continued indicating the group gathered outside the locker room.  
Adam got up and headed to where his friends had gathered. From the smiles on their faces Adam had a feeling Charlie had let them in on what was going on. Even though Bombay hadn't said so Adam knew that he had Charlie to thank for Bombay getting involved. This had been the secretive thing that Charlie had been up to lately.  
"Are you coming back?" Russ asked.  
"Yes," Adam told them. The Ducks started cheering and surrounded Adam. Finally, for the first time since coming to Eden Hall the Ducks were truly together again. After a few minutes of noisy celebrating everyone started walking back toward the dorms for dinner. Before long Adam and Charlie found themselves a little bit behind the rest of the group.  
"Thanks for doing what you did, Charlie," Adam said.  
"I didn't do anything," Charlie said innocently.  
"I know you're the one responsible for Bombay talking to Dean Buckley about me skating for JV because it sure didn't come up in my Dad's conversation with the Dean."  
"How do you think your Dad is going to take this?" Charlie asked trying to change the subject.  
"Probably not good. He'll probably start yelling at me and tell me I'm taking a step backwards when I should be going forwards. He's probably right but this is my best chance of playing again this season and I just want to play hockey."  
Charlie found himself thinking back to the last time that Adam had said those last words-"I just want to play hockey". That had been Adam's first game with the Ducks and none of them really wanted him on the team. Charlie remembered thinking that Adam looked lost and scared without his Hawk buddies around. All he had wanted to do was put Adam a little bit more at ease but Jesse had put a stop to that. However that locker room scene quickly became forgotten by every member of the team as soon as Adam had scored the first goal of that team. By everyone except for Jesse. Since then Charlie had often wondered if Adam ever resented having to come skate with the Ducks or what would have been different if he hadn't. He glanced over at his friend walking beside him. He couldn't imagine what the last four years would have been like without Adam.  
"Yeah, well he'll eventually get over it right," Charlie told him. "He got over you becoming a Duck didn't he."  
"You know, I'm not sure he ever did," Adam said laughing. It was going to be great being back with the Ducks once again. 


	10. Disowned

After his classes on Tuesday, Adam headed straight for the library. He figured it would be a good way for him to get away from his friends. He wasn't sure why but for some reason he felt like heading for JV practice alone this afternoon. After all that had happened it seemed strange to be going back. He had been bouncing back and forth between the two teams the whole school year. He wasn't sure any more which team he belonged on. Part of him wasn't even sure which team he wanted to be on. The only thing he knew for sure was that he wanted to play hockey.  
He had yet to tell his parents about him going back to JV. He wasn't sure how to break the news to them. He hadn't been kidding when he had told Charlie the night before that his Dad would be mad. And in his heart he knew he was letting his Dad down. But Adam was determined to make it up to him. If that meant pushing himself to be back out there during games than that was what he was going to do.  
He unsuccessfully attempted to do some of his homework between the time he arrived at the library and practice time. Instead of actually doing any of it though he found himself thinking about other things and watching the clock. He finally decided that it would be safe to head over to the ice arena. By the time he got there the Ducks should be in the locker room getting into their gear. Adam quickly packed up his books and headed over to the ice arena.  
  
"Has anyone seen Adam this afternoon?" asked Russ. All the Ducks were in the locker room getting ready for practice.  
"He went to the library after our last class," Connie said. "Said something about getting his homework out of the way."  
"Homework, before hockey practice. None of us do that," Russ said. Connie just shrugged.  
"Do you think maybe he's going to bail on us?"  
"Averman," said several of the Ducks at the same time in response to the question.  
"It was just a question," Averman said getting defensive.  
"Just chill guys. He'll be here," Charlie said. In his mind he added the words I hope to the end of that comment. Adam had been quiet all day. Charlie wasn't sure if he was having second thoughts or not.  
Charlie finished lacing up his skates and stood up grabbing his hockey stick. He headed out to the rink hoping that Adam would be there by now. As he walked toward the rink he could see that Adam had showed up while they were getting ready. Adam was sitting in the player's box talking with Bombay. Charlie stepped out onto the ice and skated over to them.  
Before long the rest of the Ducks had joined them and Bombay started practice. Not being able to be out on the ice, Adam resumed the role of an assistant coach like when he had been on the varsity team. It didn't take him long to start feeling like a part of the team. Maybe he had earned a spot on Varsity but Adam also knew he still had a place on this team. Even if he and the others had forgotten that momentarily.  
After practice, Adam waited outside of locker room for Charlie, Connie and Guy. They were going to go out for pizza instead of eating at the school cafeteria that night. As he saw Riley, Cole, and Mosley enter the ice arena he started to wish he wasn't waiting outside of the locker room alone. He tried to pretend that he didn't notice them but out of the corner of his eye he saw them head straight toward him.  
"Look what we have here," Riley said as he approached Adam. "It's a lost little Duckie."  
Adam just ignored them as Cole and Mosley laughed at Riley's joke.  
"You couldn't cut it as a Warrior so you went crawling back to your so called little duck friends. The ones who dropped you when you made varsity. At least you knew where you stood with us Banksie. As soon as it suits them they'll drop you again. Your not one of them."  
Adam found himself looking Riley eye to eye. He couldn't believe what Riley had just said. He didn't want to believe him.  
"You don't know what you're talking about," Adam said evenly never taking his eyes off Riley.  
"Keep telling yourself that kid and maybe you'll believe it. Of course we're better off without you. We don't need quitters on the team."  
"I didn't quit," Adam said getting angry and shoving Riley.  
Cole immediately stepped past Mosley and put himself in between Riley and Adam. He grabbed Adam's jacket and pushed Adam up against the wall.  
"You just made a big mistake," Cole told him.  
Before Cole could do anything else though another voice was heard from behind them.  
"Leave him alone," Fulton told him. Behind him stood Portman and the rest of the Ducks.  
"He didn't quit varsity," Charlie said stepping forward to stand next to Fulton. "Coach Wilson used his injury as an opportunity to get Adam off the team and I bet you were behind it Riley. You probably went and ran to your Daddy just like with your attempt to get our scholarships revoked. It didn't work Riley. We're still here."  
"You little punk," Riley said going after Charlie. Dean and Fulton both stepped in front of Charlie and together knocked Riley to the ground.  
Cole let go of Adam pushing him away and into the wall. Adam lost his balance and fell to the ground. As he went down he could feel slight pain in his left knee.  
Cole turned around and headed for Dean and Fulton only to find himself surrounded by Ducks. That stopped him in his tracks. Sure they were all shorter than he was but there were more of them. Off to the side he could see Mosley , who was on the edge of the group anyway, take a few steps backwards. Cole was starting to think that Mosley had he right idea.  
The same thought was going through Riley's head as he got to his feet.  
"You Ducks are going to regret this," Riley said as he fixed the collar on his varsity jacket. "Let's go guys," he said as he started heading toward the varsity locker room. He pushed his way through the Ducks with Cole following him. Mosley chose to go around the group of Ducks to follow his two teammates.  
As most of the Ducks watched the varsity players walk away Charlie made his way over to Adam who was being helped to his feet by Guy and Averman.  
"Are you okay?" Charlie asked him.  
"Yeah," Adam told him not admitting to the pain in his knee.  
"What he said isn't true Adam," Connie said. "We're not going to drop you again. We're you're friends and what we did was wrong. We know that now."  
The other Ducks nodded in agreement with Connie's words.  
"I know that," Adam said. He knew varsity had never really accepted him as one of them. They merely tolerated him on the team because they had to. Sure the Ducks had ignored him when he first made varsity and had included him in their pranks against varsity but at least he still felt accepted by them. They had been angry and probably jealous when he had made varsity but in the end they had showed that they were still his friends. They were there when he had been hurt when the varsity, with the exception of Scooter and a few others, hadn't been despite the fact that he was suppose to be on their team at the time.  
"Are you sure you're okay?" Fulton asked him again. When Adam nodded he left with Portman and Ken. The other Ducks gradually left too leaving only Adam, Connie, Guy and Charlie still there.  
"We still going for pizza?" Guy asked looking to Adam for an answer.  
"Sure," Adam said. He really wanted to head back to his dorm room not go out for Pizza but he figured if he said that they would suspect something was wrong and he didn't want that.  
The four of them left the arena and started walking toward the bus stop. Not much was said between them. The run in with varsity had definitely ruined everyone's mood that evening.  
  
When Mrs. Banks dropped Adam off at the ice arena the next afternoon after his physical therapy session he was tired but it was a good tired. His knee ached but the physical therapist had told him that was to be expected and that he could expect to be sore for the next few sessions until the muscles got built back up.  
"You sure you don't want me to take you back to the dorm, honey?" his mom asked him concerned, as he got ready to get out of the car. "I'll tell the coach why you weren't there today."  
"I'll be fine Mom," he told her opening the car door and stepping out. "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."  
"Okay," she said although she still didn't sound to convinced. "And don't worry about your father. I'll break the news to him about you being back on JV."  
"Thanks," Adam told her closing the car door and heading into the ice arena. He didn't hear the car pull off and he knew his mom was hanging around until he got into the ice arena.  
The Ducks practice had already started as he walked into the ice arena. They were doing a scrimmage game and no one noticed him walking in. Adam made his way to the player's box that Bombay was hanging out in.  
"Charlie you have two open teammates," Bombay yelled as Adam took a seat on the bench.  
Charlie had control of the puck and was going one on one against Dwayne. Instead of passing Charlie kept the puck and Dwayne was able to steal it away from him. Dwayne got by Charlie and headed back for the goal that Julie was guarding for Charlie's team. As he came up to Averman who was playing defense for Charlie's team Dwayne passed the puck to Luis. Luis got the puck and immediately passed it off to Guy when he saw that Fulton was directly between him and the goal. As soon as he had gotten rid of the puck Luis ran into Fulton sending them both down to the ice.  
"You really need to learn to stop on your own," Fulton told Luis as they got to their feet.  
"Sorry," Luis said and then headed down toward the goal where Dwayne and Guy were still trying to get an open shot at the goal. Finally Guy to a shot but it was stopped by Julie.  
Julie passed the puck over Averman who missed the pass. The puck went right by him and hit the boards where Dwayne picked it back up. Dwayne passed the puck back to Luis who was open and set up for a shot at the goal. Luis got the puck and took his shot and the puck sailed by Julie and into the goal giving them a two nothing lead over the other team.  
Bombay blew his whistle and motioned for Charlie, Russ, Julie, Averman, Fulton and Ken to come over to the bench."What went wrong with that play," Bombay asked them.  
"I should've known not to pass the puck to Averman," Julie said.  
"Sorry," Averman said "but I'm not the only one making mistakes out there."  
"No you sure aren't. I shouldn't have kept the puck with Dwayne on me like that," Charlie said.  
"Right, especially when you had two open teammates. The other teams defense players were out of position and not covering the other two offense players. You've got to keep your eyes open for opportunities like that out there and use them to your advantage. Okay get ready for another face-off."  
As Charlie put his helmet back down he noticed Adam talking quietly to Averman, probably given him a pointer or two.  
"Russ, why don't you take center this time," Charlie said as they skated toward center ice.  
"Okay," Russ said. He took his place center ice as Charlie took up position as right wing.  
While Bombay had been talking to the others Guy had brought the puck to center ice and placed it on the blue circle. As the other team took there places Guy's team broke up their little pack they had been talking in and took up their places with Guy going to center to face off with Russ.  
As soon as Averman was in position Bombay yelled for everyone to get ready and then blew his whistle. Guy got control of the puck on the face off and passed it over to Dwayne. As Bombay continued to watch the practice game he asked Adam "You feeling okay?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired," Adam admitted.  
"Charlie told me about what happened after practice yesterday. He seemed a little concern that you may have hurt your knee when Cole shoved you down. He said you seemed to be limping a little bit afterwards.  
"It did hurt for a little bit," Adam admitted "but the pain went away by the time I went to bed last night. I'm doing fine Coach, really."  
Bombay glanced away from the game briefly to look over at Adam. Adam met his gaze steadily. "Okay," Bombay said accepting that Adam was telling him the truth. He then turned his attention back to the game.  
By this time, Charlie's team had gotten control of the puck and was making an attack on the other teams goal. Connie and Portman were in better position defensively this time. As Fulton skated into the zone with the puck he got checked by Portman. Connie and Charlie both rushed to get control of the now loose puck. Connie beat Charlie too it and went to pass it off to Guy but Russ intercepted the pass and headed for the goal. He took a shot and the puck got pass Goldberg putting the score at two to one.  
Bombay talked to both teams this time and then had them set up for another face off. Practice continued like this for the rest of the afternoon. By the time the practice was over Charlie's team had loss five to three.  
"See you guys at the game tomorrow," Gordon told them as he dismissed them to the locker room.  
"You waiting for us Adam?" Guy asked.  
"No, I think I'm just going back to my room," Adam told him.  
"Okay," Guy said as he followed the others off the ice.  
"You want a ride over to the dorms?" Bombay asked.  
"Yeah, sure," Adam said relieved that he didn't have to walk back to the dorm. Bombay grabbed his stuff from the bench and the two of them headed out to the parking lot.  
  
The Ducks won their game the next afternoon five to zero. After the last couple of games the win was nice and lifted their spirits. On Friday evening, while most of the kids on campus were at the varsity game the Ducks gathered in the common room for a movie night instead, except for Julie and Luis. Julie had gone to the game to see Scooter play and Luis was still going out with Riley's old girlfriend so he was there to watch her cheer.  
They had just started the movie when Philip Banks walked into the dorm building. He motioned to his son and Adam got up from his place on the couch to go talk to his father in the hallway. At first the Ducks went back to their movie but as the voices in the hallway got louder they found themselves listening to the conversation.  
"I'm not going to quit," they heard Adam telling his Dad.  
"You don't belong on JV. You're too good for that team of ragtag misfits. You always have been."  
"The Ducks are the best team I've ever skated with. Maybe their families don't have money, prestige or influence but that doesn't matter. They're all good skaters and despite any differences we may have had in the past they're my friends. Better friends than McGill and Larson ever were," Adam said referring to his so called best friends from the Hawks. The three families had been close for years and Adam's falling out with the other two kids had caused problems between the parents too something that Adam knew his father blamed on him.  
"You know you need to stop blaming McGill for what happened at that game. He didn't do it on purpose and Coach Reilly did not have you taken out of the game on purpose. You want to blame someone, blame that Coach Bombay. He's the one who took you off the Hawks."  
"I can't believe you."  
"Don't talk back to me. Your Mom and I have tried to give you and your brother everything. Your brother is grateful, why don't you show a little gratitude. Look, you have a choice - you either quit playing for the Ducks or we'll never speak again."  
"You can't mean that," Adam said his voice pleading. Despite not sharing the same views as his father he still loved him. He had always tried to make his dad proud of him. But he couldn't quit the Ducks for him. Not after everything that had happened. He couldn't believe that his Dad was even asking him to make that decision.  
"I do. You don't belong with them. You're better than them and not just at hockey either. I thought you'd realize that yourself so I let you play but I was wrong. I don't want you to throw your life away because of those people. They don't even belong at this school. So what's your decision? Are you going to quit JV?"  
"I can't," Adam said softly. The Ducks had gathered in the doorway to the common room at this time so they could still hear his reply.  
"Fine," Philip Banks said evenly. "I have a legal obligation to provide for you until you're eighteen but once you're eighteen you are on your own." With that said Philip Banks turned and walked out of the dorm leaving a very stunned group of kids in his wake.  
Adam watched in shock as the door closed behind his father. He then looked over to the gathered Ducks who looked as shocked as he felt. Slowly they came out into the hallway.  
"Adam," he heard Charlie say as they walked toward him. Adam couldn't move or find any words. He didn't know what to do.  
Connie walked up to him and pulled him into a hug. He didn't resist her and as he hugged her back he felt the tears start to fall. He couldn't stop them and he didn't really care. He felt Charlie put his arm across his shoulders and was aware of the other Ducks moving in close around them. As much as it hurt he knew he had made the right decision. He belonged with the Ducks. He couldn't bail on them.  
After awhile, he let his friends lead him up to his room. The movie had long been forgotten. He was vaguely aware of what was going on around him.  
As the group came into the room Steve made a hasty exit seeing that something serous was going on. No one really heard the excuse that Steve gave as he walked at the door.  
"Thanks," Guy told Steve as Steve walked out the door. They all knew that Steve didn't have to leave but was grateful that he did.  
"No problem," Steve told him.  
No one spoke after that. No one knew what to say. Adam was sitting on his bed between Connie and Charlie, both of them still had an arm around Adam's shoulders. Adam was grateful that they were all there. He didn't really want to talk about what had just happened but he didn't want to be left alone either. It was Adam who eventually broke the silence.  
"I'm sorry that you guys had to hear that and what he said about you guys. Just because we have money doesn't make us any better. You guys taught me that."  
"It's okay Adam. He said it not you," Guy said.  
"Besides we were no better than him when Bombay first recruited you for the game," Averman said.  
"Yeah, we didn't like you just because you had money. We didn't know you but we just assumed you were like all the others," Connie said.  
"Being a Hawk didn't help any," Averman said getting a laugh out of everyone. The laughter eased the tension some.  
"You know we would have understood if you quit," Russ told him.  
"But its not what I wanted. I want to be with you guys. I enjoy hockey yes but it was my Dad's dream that I become some big hockey star. All the pressure to do good came from wanting to make him proud of me but I wasn't happy. I want to enjoy the game for now. If I make pros eventually great but if not I could live with that too."  
"Then you made the right decision," Connie said.  
"Then why do I feel like such a rotten person."  
"This isn't your fault," Charlie told him. "Your Dad should have never even asked you to make that decision. He wasn't being fair to you."  
"And just remember that we're all here for you no matter what happens," Connie told him. "We'll always be there for you."  
Adam looked up to see all of the others nodding in agreement to Connie's words. He slowly looked around the room and made eye contact with each of his teammates. He saw the same thing in everyone's eyes - sympathy and understanding.  
"Thanks guys," Adam said.  
Shortly after that the other Ducks started leaving Adam's room. As Guy and Averman walked out of the room they met up with Luis and Julie who had been looking for everyone.  
"What's going on?" Julie asked seeing the downcast look on everyone's face.  
"Come into my room and I explain everything," Guy said leading them to the room he and Charlie shared. Charlie and Connie were still sitting with Adam.  
Dwayne watched the Guy, Averman, Julie and Luis all disappear into Guy's room. He felt someone put a hand on his shoulder.  
"What's up cowboy?" Russ asked Dwayne. Dwayne had looked lost through all of this.  
"I guess I just comprehend what just happened tonight. My parents have always supported me and my brothers and sisters no matter what we wanted to do even when we knew it wasn't what they really wanted."  
"Then you're lucky," Russ told him. "Not everybody have parents like that," he said thinking about his own parents. It was there idea that he come to Eden Hall not his. However, he had to admit he liked it here and he was glad that they had made him come. Even so he didn't think his parents would have reacted the way Mr. Banks had if he truly didn't want to do something.  
"It's not fair," Dwayne said.  
"Life ain't always fair," Russ said and then headed to their room. Dwayne followed him after casting one more look in the direction of Adam's room. 


	11. Ending the Regular Season

"Hurry up Charlie, we're running late," Guy said as he left their room the next afternoon. They had an away game Against the Jefferson Academy Flames this afternoon and they were suppose to be on the bus in five minutes.  
They weren't the only ones running late. Dwayne, Russ and Ken were just at the bottom of the steps as Guy started down them.  
Charlie quickly grabbed his bag and hockey stick and left his room. As he pulled the door shut he saw Adam coming out of his room dressed in jeans and his Ducks jersey.  
"Adam, you know you don't have to go. We'll explain it to Coach Bombay. He'll understand."  
"I need to go Charlie," Adam told him. "I'll just drive myself crazy if I wait around here."  
Charlie nodded as the two hurried down the steps. They met Connie and Julie at the bottom of the steps and Linda, who was riding over with the team was waiting in the doorway on the common room. As a group the five of them headed out to the bus that was waiting for them.  
Coach Bombay was standing at the door of the bus checking off team members as they got on. He didn't seem to look to thrilled at the fact that most of them were running late. As the group approached the bus he marked off Linda and Charlie on his list and then noticed Adam.  
"Take this," Bombay said handing Charlie the clip board and leading Adam a little bit away from the bus to talk to him. Charlie marked off Connie and Julie's name as they got on the bus and then looked to see if they were missing anyone else. Everyone else was accounted for so Charlie got on the bus. Meanwhile Bombay was talking quietly with Adam.  
"You don't need to come today, Adam. I know about what happened last night."  
"How?" Adam asked. He had been planning on telling the Coach later this afternoon after the game. In a way he was relieved that he wouldn't have to.  
"Your dad talked to me twice yesterday. The first time was right after practice yesterday. He wanted me to drop you from the team because he didn't want you to play on JV. I told him I couldn't do that. He then called me after his 'conversation' with you and told me about what happened. I almost wish I had agreed to do what he wanted and drop you from the team because then you wouldn't have had to go through that."  
What Gordon didn't tell Adam was that Philip Banks had blamed everything on Gordon during that second conversation. Philip Banks had told Gordon that he had corrupted his son. That Gordon had ruined his son's respect for tradition and responsibility to his family. Gordon knew that what Philip Banks had told him wasn't true but he also knew that there was need for Adam to know about it. Adam had been hurt enough through all of this.  
"I'm glad you didn't," Adam told him. "I want to be a part of this team. I need to be a part of this team."  
"I never meant to cause problems between you and your father Adam. If I had known then that it would come to this I would have withdrew my protest and left you on the Hawks."  
"I'm glad you didn't," Adam told him. "I did resent you at first for taking me away from the Hawks. I thought they were my friends. It was a family tradition to skate for that team. But then after the first couple of games I found that I liked skating with the Ducks better and Charlie and the others have proven to be better friends than any of the Hawks ever were."  
"What's your mom's position on all of this?"  
"I don't know. I haven't talked to her yet," Adam admitted.  
"You need anything you just let me know," Bombay told him. "And if you want to rethink your decision I want you to know I'll understand. I don't want you off this team but you need to do what is right for you no matter what that is."  
"Thanks, Coach."  
"We got a game to go win," Bombay said putting his arm around Adam's shoulders and heading for the bus.  
The ride to Jefferson Academy was unusually quiet. The Ducks whispered in small groups but there was none of the loud team conversations that normally went on. Adam sat at the front of the bus in the seat across from Bombay quietly looking out the window. Bombay was worried about his skater but he knew he had to let Adam choose when he wanted to really talk about what he was feeling. He wished Hans were still here. Hans would have known what to do. With Hans gone, Bombay no felt the obligation to be to his skaters what Hans had been to him and these kids after him. A friend and a mentor as well as their coach.  
The first period of the game did not go well for the Ducks. The Jefferson Flames were a rough team and Charlie and his teammates ended up spending as much time on the ice as they did on their skates. Bombay kept either Fulton or Portman out on the ice during the whole period. The Flames were able to take a lot of shots at the Duck's goal but Julie was able to stop all but one so the period ended Flames one and Ducks zero.  
During the second period Adam finally found a weakness in the Flames defense which he pointed out to Bombay who passed it along to his skaters. After that the Ducks had more success at mounting an attack against the Flames goal. By the end of the second period they were able to tie the game at two to two.  
However, all the Ducks were sore and bruised from the hits they had been taken from their opponents. They were all looking forward to the break between periods.  
"You guys are doing great out there," Bombay told them in the locker room.  
"Yeah, but we need to beat this team to make league play-offs," Russ said. Even though they had several more regular season teams if the Ducks lost today they could when the last games of the regular season and still not make play-offs.  
"I think you guys are up to it," Bombay told them. "These guys are no tougher than Varsity and you guys won that game. You guys can beat tough teams like these guys because you play smarter hockey."  
"Yeah," the Ducks said Bombay's words lifting their spirits.  
As the third period started, Charlie went down on the face-off and the Flames immediately scored another goal. As Charlie got up and got set up for the next face off he put a look of determination on his face. He was determined not to let that happen again. As the referee blew his whistle and dropped the puck Charlie got the puck and passed it off to Guy sending his opponent down to the ice this time.  
It took them longer but the Ducks eventually scored another goal tying the game once again. The next face off was won by the flames again. After about four minutes of the puck down in the Ducks defense zone and three blocked shots Russ finally iced the puck to get it out of their zone. They switched players putting fresh players out on the ice for the Flames' next attack. It was Guy who got a hold of the puck by intercepting a pass taking the Flames by surprise. He took the puck across center ice and then passed the puck to Charlie who scored a goal. It was the last goal of the game and the Ducks won it four to three. The Ducks were in the league play- offs.  
"Great game today guys," Bombay told them on the bus trip home which was already noisier than the ride their had been. "I don't want you guys to let down now even though we have a place in the play-offs. You guys have three more regular season games left and I'd like to see you guys win all three of them," Bombay said which received a round of cheers.  
Back at Eden Hall the Ducks put their stuff in their rooms and then went their separate ways for the evening. Charlie, Linda, Guy and Connie went out on a double date. Luis and his girlfriend went to the movies and Julie and Scooter were getting together. Portman, Fulton, Ken, Russ, Dwayne, and Averman all went to the arcade. Goldberg went to the library to work on a report that was due the following week. Adam hung around the dorms. He thought about calling his mother a couple of times but couldn't bring himself to do it. Steve came into the room before too long and Adam started telling him about what had happened the night before.  
  
Sunday morning Adam was out on the steps of the dorm at nine o'clock. He had a physical therapy session that morning at nine-thirty and his mother was suppose to pick him up in ten minutes. After Friday night he wasn't sure that she was going to show up. Scooter had told him the night before that if she didn't show up to give him a call and he'd drive him to the session.  
At five minutes after nine though he saw his mom's car pull into the parking lot. She pulled the car up to the curb in front of the dorm and as Adam stood up from his place on the steps she got out of the car and rushed over to him. She gave him a hug and Adam didn't resist her.  
"I love you," she told her son. "Your father should've never tried to make you quit the team but he's set in his ways. But I told him that I wasn't going to go along with him in this and that I thought he was wrong."  
This was the first time Adam had ever seen his Mom go against his Dad. She usually just went along with her husband. He knew she wasn't going to be able to change his Dad's stance in the matter but at least he knew now that he still had his mother to lean on.  
"If we don't go, we're going to be late," Angela Banks finally said letting go of her son.  
After the session mother and son went out for lunch. Adam told his mom about the game the afternoon before and that the Ducks were now for sure in the league play-offs. They talked about a lot of things that afternoon but neither of them mentioned Adam's father.  
  
The next week was fairly uneventful for everyone at Eden Hall. The Ducks won their game on Wednesday night. On Friday night there was a JV/Varsity double header at Eden Hall. Both Eden Hall teams won their respective games.  
On Monday Bombay took Adam to the doctor appointment that was scheduled after Adam's classes. Mrs. Banks had something to do that afternoon and had asked Adam to find another way to the appointment. After examining Adam's knee the Doctor called Bombay into the exam room and gave them good news. He was clearing Adam to practice as long as Adam took it easy and didn't skate the entire practice non-stop. He also didn't want Adam in any scrimmage game feeling that even a practice game was taking too much of a chance of re-injury at this point. Adam asked if he would be able to skate in the final regular season game next Monday and was told it was too early to make that decision.  
They were running close to the Ducks practice time by this time as Bombay pulled his van up to the curb outside of the dorm. Adam hurried up to his room and quickly grabbed his stuff. By the time they got to the arena most of the Ducks were already out on the ice.  
"Just get ready and come join us," Bombay told Adam as they entered the arena.  
As Bombay head over to the rink Adam made his way to the locker room. Charlie, Dwayne, and Guy were still in the locker room finishing lacing up their skates. Adam sat his stuff down next to Charlie and started getting ready for practice.  
"You're skating today?" Charlie asked.  
"Yeah. The doctor cleared me this afternoon."  
"That's great," Dwayne said.  
"What about games?" Guy asked.  
"I haven't been cleared for the games yet," Adam said "but the doctor didn't say I definitely wouldn't be able to play next week so there is a chance."  
"Well, see you out there," Charlie said. "If we don't get out there Bombay is going to have us doing laps for being late."  
Charlie, Dwayne and Guy left the locker room and Adam finished getting ready for practice. When Adam joined his teammates on the ice they were doing a shooting drill. Adam was quickly worked into the rotation and Adam quickly found out how out of practice he was. Both Julie and Goldberg were able to stop all of his shots. Bombay told him not to get discouraged that it would come back to him.  
Halfway through practice Bombay split them into two teams for a scrimmage game which ended Adam's practice. Although he wouldn't have admitted it Adam was glad. He was already worn out from the first half of practice even though Bombay had made him sit out a couple of times for a short break.  
Throughout the week practices got easier for Adam. On Friday, Bombay split the team into small groups to work on different things. He paired Charlie and Adam up for some one-on-one work with Julie serving as a goalie. Adam was still frustrated with how he was playing. It seemed like every time he had the puck Charlie managed to steal it away from him. The one time he was able to take a shot Julie was able to block it. And he did no better skating defense against Charlie either. The only thing that made him feel a little bit better was the fact that Julie was blocking all of Charlie's shots too.  
Charlie could tell that Adam was starting to get frustrated and he couldn't blame him. Charlie had to admit to himself that if he were in Adam's place he would probably be getting frustrated too. He thought about going easier on Adam but then decided against it. If Adam figured out he was doing it Adam would be mad at him.  
Bombay interrupted them at that point. He took Charlie aside first and talked to him and then did the same thing with Adam. He then had Adam try offense again with Charlie being defense. Charlie wasn't sure how it happened but somehow in trying to get the puck away from Adam he tripped him. When Adam went down he hit the ice hard.  
"Adam are you okay?" Charlie asked as he quickly knelt down beside his teammate. As Bombay came over to both of them Charlie could see that Adam still had his eyes opened but he didn't move or say anything for a few moments. Then he slowly started to push himself up off the ice. Charlie and Bombay both helped him to his feet.  
"Are you okay, Adam?" Bombay asked him.  
"Yeah," Adam said nodding. " I just got the wind knocked out of me. I'm fine."  
"Okay but why don't you go sit down for a few moments" Bombay told him.  
Adam just nodded. Sitting down didn't sound like a bad idea. Charlie skated to the side of the rink with him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that," Charlie told him.  
"I know," Adam told him. If he had been skating on varsity and that had happened he would have had his doubts but not with Charlie. "I'll be fine," Adam told Charlie indicating to him that he should go back out and join the rest of the team. Bombay had called all the groups in together at center ice.  
Bombay quickly had the Ducks working on a drill together as a team. After about five minutes Adam went out and joined them. The rest of the practice was uneventful.  
  
Though the Ducks didn't have any official practices over the weekend Adam still found time to practice both on the ice and on roller blades. Sometimes he practiced on his own and other times a few of the other Ducks were with him. Charlie was starting to worry that Adam was pushing himself to hard but when he mentioned his concern to Adam, Adam brushed him off.  
Adam was not cleared to play in the game on Monday night. The doctor told Adam he didn't think it would be safe yet but in actuality it was Bombay's doing that Adam was not cleared. Bombay had talked with the doctor earlier in the day and asked him not to clear Adam. Bombay had seen Adam practicing over the weekend and shared Charlie's concerns about Adam pushing himself to much. He figured that if Adam wasn't cleared to skate in the game then at least Monday was one day that Adam would be forced to take a break from the practicing. The doctor assured Adam that he would be cleared for the first play-off game.  
The Ducks won their last regular season game two to zero. It was also the last game to be played before Thanksgiving break which started on Wednesday. The playoff games would start on the following Tuesday when the students returned from the holiday break.  
At Tuesdays practice, the Duck's last practice before the Thanksgiving break, Bombay split them up into two teams and let them play a friendly game against each other. Instead of being a coach Gordon put on Hockey gear and joined them giving each team an alternate.  
At the beginning of the game Adam found himself making a lot of stupid mistakes. At one point Bombay told him to relax and have fun. Once he took that advice Adam started playing much better.  
Somewhere along the line they lost track of the score. It didn't really matter anyways. The Ducks were having fun and it was a good way to end things before everyone went home for the Thanksgiving holiday. 


	12. Going Home

Note: I have only seen the movies. As far as I know they never gave Adam's older brother a name or age on the movie so I made something up for this chapter. I also just chose a name for Adam's mother which I used in one of the previous Chapters and had to go back and figure out what it was.  
  
Also I want to thank every one who has been reviewing. I know I don't say much about them but I do read them and appreciate them. Special thanks to Nellie2, anne918, and crazy4nc128 for reviewing regularly. Sorry anne918 but I won't be getting Adam and Julie together I like the Scooter/Julie pairing myself. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.  
  
The out-of-state Ducks all had flights home late Tuesday night. Bombay drove them all to the air port and made sure each of them got on their respective flight home. The other Ducks, with the exception of Goldberg, whose family was going out to Philadelphia for the holiday, stayed in the dorms Tuesday night.  
On Wednesday the students that were still in the dorms started leaving for the holidays. Adam said good-bye to his friends as they left. He was the last Duck to leave, having told his Mom to wait till the afternoon to pick him up. After the confrontation with his dad the Friday night before he really didn't even want to go home at all.  
When he got home his dad was still at work. His older brother, Anthony, was home from college already and in the living room watching tv. Adam went in and sat down in one of the arm chairs in the living room not even bothering to take his suitcase up to his room yet. He figured he would deal with that a little later.  
"Hey Adam," his brother said.  
"Hi. How's college?" Adam asked.  
"Going okay. Our hockey team just missed making the play-offs though. Mom told me about the Ducks making JV league play-offs. That is great. Are you going to be able to play."  
"Yeah. I've been cleared to skate in our first play-off game Tuesday night."  
"That's great."  
"Wish Dad felt that way."  
"Yeah, Mom told me about that too. I almost feel like its my fault," Anthony told him. " Ever since I told Dad I didn't want to play professional hockey he's been obsessed that you do. The only reason I'm even playing college hockey is to make Dad happy. I think he figures that if I'm still playing then maybe I'll still play professional hockey sometime."  
"Yeah but I'm still playing hockey. Its not like I'm giving up the game."  
"But you went back to JV. For Dad that is a set back. He doesn't like set backs. He never liked having you skating with the Ducks. He thought that it was holding you back. I think he tolerated it because of you getting to go to the Junior Goodwill Games. Dad skated for Eden Hall when he was in high school up until the car wreck, his senior year, that ended his chances of playing pro hockey. I went to Eden Hall. It was always intended that you go there too and then when you did you made varsity in your freshman year. Dad didn't get on varsity until his junior year and I was a sophomore. For Dad that meant everything to him. He called me the same night that he found out. Talked for hours about how proud he was of you."  
"Coach Wilson wouldn't have let me play the rest of this season anyway. He wouldn't have even let me skate practices yet. I've been practicing with the Ducks for the last week and I'm playing in the play-off games. If you ask me I'm better off with the Ducks."  
"But all Dad sees is that the Ducks are holding you back once again. I think he feels that the Ducks are taking away the last chance of his old dream being fulfilled even if it is vicariously."  
The two brothers were quiet for awhile. Then Anthony spoke again.  
"He's not being fair Adam and I admire you for sticking to what you know is right. The Ducks are the best thing that ever happened to you and you shouldn't quit just because Dad wants you too. If you could go back to varsity it would have been different but like you said the coach was determined to keep you sidelined. Sometimes I wish I hadn't told Dad that I didn't want to play professional hockey and then you wouldn't have had to deal with all of this."  
"It's not your fault. I want to play professional hockey. If it doesn't happen I could live with that but I plan on giving it all I got. Even now."  
"Give him time and I'm sure Dad will come around," Anthony told his brother. He remembered how mad his Dad had been with him when he had told him he wanted to be a lawyer not a hockey player. But at the time his Dad still had Adam to fulfill that dream.  
Nothing else was said between the two boys as they heard their father's car pull up in the driveway. Both Anthony and Adam pretended that they were interested in the tv show. A couple of minutes later Philip Banks came in the front door of the house and came into the living room. Adam kept his eyes on the television even though he had no idea what he was watching.  
"Welcome back Anthony," Philip Banks said as he walked into the living room and made his way over to his oldest son. Anthony stood up and gave his dad a hug. "How are classes going?"  
"Fine. There is one class I'm a little bit concerned about but I have a meeting with the professor to review the stuff I missed on the last test. I should still be able to manage a B in the class if I do well on the final." He didn't add that he would be able to find more time to study now that the hockey season was over.  
"I'm sure you will. And how did the team do?"  
"We just missed the play-offs," Anthony admitted. "But Adam's team made their league's play-offs. I thought maybe we could go together and see the first game Tuesday night. I'd only have to miss one class Wednesday morning and its an easy class. Missing it won't be a problem."  
"Well, there is always next year," Philip Banks said completely ignoring Anthony's entire comment about going to Adam's game. In fact he didn't even acknowledge Adam's presence in the room.  
Adam couldn't take it. He got up and headed upstairs to his room not even bothering to grab his suitcase from where he had sat it when he had come in. Anthony watched as his brother disappear up the steps wanting to follow him but his Dad was already moving on to another topic.  
"So how is Lisa," Philip Banks asked referring to Anthony's girlfriend at college. The two had been dating for the past year.  
"She's fine. She went home to Boston to be with her mother over the holiday," Anthony told him. Lisa's parents were divorced and Lisa tried to split time with her parents evenly. As his father sat down in the chair that Adam had vacated Anthony sat back down in his chair still continuing his conversation with his Dad.  
When his Mom came in and told them that dinner was done Anthony got up and picked up Adam's suitcase. "I'll go tell Adam," Anthony said to his mother as he headed upstairs.  
Adam had the door to his room closed. Anthony knocked on the door but didn't get an answer. He reached out and tried the door knob. He found it unlocked. Anthony slowly pushed the door open.  
He saw Adam laying face down on his bed. He had his arms covering his face but Anthony could still tell he was crying. Anthony put the suitcase down on the floor and then walked over to the bed and sat down on the bed next to his brother.  
"Mom has dinner done," Anthony said.  
"I'm not hungry," Adam told him.  
"You want to talk?" Anthony asked.  
"I just want to be alone," Adam told him.  
"Okay. When you're ready to talk you know where to find me," Anthony said standing up and slowly leaving the room.  
Anthony went downstairs and told his Mom that Adam wouldn't be joining them for dinner. That dinner at the Banks' was a quiet one.  
  
Julie was nervous as she got ready to leave the plane when it landed in Maine. It was the first time she had been home since leaving for Eden Hall almost three months ago. It was the longest that she had been away from home and she was nervous that everything would have changed. That she had changed and no longer fit into things in Maine.  
However, as soon as she walked through the gate of the airport her worries disappeared. Over in one corner of the terminal her family and her old friends were all gathered with a huge welcome home sign. Julie ran to them and was enveloped in hugs.  
"I've really missed you," Alli, Julie's best friend since kindergarten, told her as they hugged each other.  
"Me too," Julie replied. "I'm dating this really cool guy that I can't wait to tell you all about."  
"That's great," Alli replied. "As long as its okay with you, our parents have agreed to let me spend the day and night at your house and then go home tomorrow afternoon before Thanksgiving dinner."  
"That's great," Julie said and then some of her other friends got into the hug fest.  
Somewhere along the line Julie's parents was able to get all of Julie's stuff and get the group loaded into the cars. 'It feels great to be home,' Julie thought as she watched the familiar scenery of her home town pass by outside the car windows.  
  
The first thing that Russ noticed as he walked out of the LA airport with his parents and older brother was the relative warmth. He had definitely left the Minnesota winter behind he and he had to admit that he really didn't mind.  
"So how is private school," his brother asked.  
"Pretty cool actually. Its fun being away from home."  
"And the weather?"  
"Cold. Weather is definitely better here in L.A. Snowball fights are fun though," Russ told him.  
"Well, we're glad you're back," his mother told him. "Even if it is only for a few days."  
"And I'm trying to get time off of work to come out to one of your play-off games. Can't promise anything though," his Dad told him.  
"That would be great," Russ said.  
The Tyler family got into a cab and headed for their Los Angeles home.  
  
It was about seven o'clock at night on Thanksgiving when the telephone rang at the Conway apartment. Charlie was doing the dishes while his mom put away the remains of there small Thanksgiving dinner.  
Charlie had been surprised the day before when he came home and found out that his step-dad was not around. Casey said he had gone to visit his parents for Thanksgiving. She didn't say it but Charlie knew that they had a fight over something. It wasn't really much of a surprise to him and he really didn't mind that his step-dad wasn't there. He had enjoyed sharing the holiday with just his mother. He didn't care for his step-dad and if it weren't for the fact that he wanted his mother to be happy he would have preferred it if his step-dad stayed away for good.  
"Hello," Casey said picking up the phone on the wall. Charlie was wondering who would be calling on the hallway. His grandparents had called earlier in the day so he didn't think it would be them again.  
Charlie continued doing the dishes as he watched his mom listen to whoever was on the other end of the line. From the look on her face he could tell that it wasn't good news.  
"Hold on a second," Casey finally said. She covered the end of the receiver with her one hand and asked "Charlie have you heard from Adam at all tonight?"  
"No. I haven't talked to Adam since yesterday morning at Eden Hall. Why?" Charlie told her. He was curious as to what was going on.  
"I'll explain in a second," Casey told her son and the put the phone back up to her ear. "No he hasn't talked to Adam. Have you tried the other team members' houses and the Hall's?" Casey asked. She was quiet for a moment listening and then she asked "Do you want me to call anyone?" Charlie assumed the answer was no because the next thing he heard his mom say was, "Okay, well then call me if you find anything out or if you need me to do anything." She quickly said good-bye to the caller and then hung the phone up.  
"That was Angela Banks," Casey began before Charlie even had a chance to ask anything. "Adam's disappeared. She said he went up to his room right after they had dinner and then when his brother went to talk to him about ten minutes ago he discovered that he wasn't there and his roller blades were gone. Angela got everyone's home phone off of Gordon and she and Anthony are calling everyone. She said Gordon is out looking for Adam."  
"Can we go out and help look?" Charlie asked.  
"Right now I think its best if we stay here. He may still show up here Charlie," Casey told her son. Charlie just nodded and went back to the dishes.  
"Charlie.." Casey began but got no further as there was a knock on the door.  
Immediately Charlie forgot about the dishes and darted past his mother to the door. He opened the door and found Adam standing there in the hallway. His roller blades were over his shoulder and Charlie could tell that he had been crying.  
"He just ignored me Charlie. It was like I wasn't even there. I couldn't stay there," Adam said quietly. His voice was flat and lacked any kind of emotion. Charlie didn't know what to say but he did usher his friend inside and closed the door.  
"Adam you have your mother worried sick. She is calling everyone looking for you," Casey said coming into the living room.  
"I'm not going back," Adam said, once again tears were forming in his eyes. "If you try to make me I'll just leave again."  
Casey had no idea what was going on but she could see that Adam was hurting. "I didn't say anything about you going back home," she told Adam giving him a hug. "However, I am going to call your mother and tell her where you are and that you're okay," Casey told him.  
Adam pulled away from her and nodded as he wiped tears away. Casey left Adam and Charlie alone in the living room and went into the kitchen to call Angela Banks.  
It took Casey a few tries to actually get through. She got busy signals the first two times she dialed the number. On the third try the she finally heard a ring. The phone was answered in the middle of the second ring.  
"Hello," came the voice of Angela Banks from the other end of the phone line.  
"Angela, It's Casey Conway. Adam just showed up here."  
"Oh, thank God."  
"Look, I'm not sure exactly what is going on but Adam is insistent that he doesn't want to go home. He told me he'll just run away again if he's made to and I think he's serious. If its okay with you he can stay here."  
"Maybe that's for the best right now," Angela said with a sigh. She wanted her youngest son home with her but she also wanted him safe. For now the best way to keep him safe was to let him stay with the Conway's. "I'll send Anthony over with some things for him. Can I talk to him?"  
"Yeah, sure. Let me go get him," Casey said setting the phone on the counter and going out to the living room where Charlie and Adam were quietly talking on the couch.  
"Adam, your mom wants to talk to you," Casey said gesturing to the phone in the kitchen. Adam quietly got up and went into the kitchen to talk to his mom. Casey was about to ask her son something when the doorbell rang. Wondering who it could possibly be this time she went over and slowly opened the door only to find Gordon Bombay standing there.  
"Can I come in and warm-up for a few minutes and then I'm going to go back out looking for Adam," Gordon said not yet knowing that Adam had already shown up at the Conway's.  
"Come in Gordon," Casey said opening the door all the way. "As for Adam he showed up here a few minutes ago. He's talking with his mom right now."  
Gordon let out a sigh of relief at Casey's news. He had known the holiday break was not going to be easy on Adam but he had never dreamed he would have run away. When Angela Banks had called, hysterically telling him that Adam had disappeared the only thing he could think of was that they had to find him. It had been his suggestion to start calling on the team members to see if he had shown up there. As soon as he had hung up the phone he had headed out and had been searching for Adam ever since.  
"What's going on?" Casey asked him. Gordon quietly told her about Mr. Banks visit to Eden Hall last night and what had taken place.  
"That's awful," Casey said. She couldn't imagine a parent doing that to their child even though there had been a time when she hadn't wanted Charlie on the team either. That was right after Bombay had been force to take over coaching District 5. Even when he had shown up apologizing she still didn't want her son skating for Bombay but Charlie had wanted to do it so she went along with it. And then Bombay had started showing that he was going to take coaching seriously and everything had changed for the kids on the District 5 team. "What kind of parent could do that to a child?" she continued.  
"I don't know," Gordon said honestly. "But I can't help but fell responsible."  
"It's not your fault, Gordon."  
"I wish I could believe that," Gordon told her. He quit talking when he saw Adam come into the room. He moved around Casey and headed across the room to Adam. "You had us all worried, Adam," Gordon said giving Adam a hug.  
"I'm sorry," Adam told him. "But I couldn't stay there anymore. It was like I was stranger in my own home."  
"Promise me something," Gordon said looking down at Adam. "Promise me that you won't disappear like that again. No matter what your dad does there are people that care about you Adam. You're not alone."  
"I promise," Adam told his coach.  
"Okay," Gordon said. "It's getting late, I better be going."  
"I'll walk out with you," Casey said. "Charlie, why don't you pull the couch out and get it ready," Casey said grabbing her coat. The fold out couch was the only extra bed they had in the small apartment.  
After his mom and Coach Bombay had left Charlie started taking the cushions off the couch and pulling it out with Adam's help. He then went and got some extra sheets and blankets and brought them out.  
"I'll sleep out here and you can have my bed," Charlie said to Adam. It was the first thing he had said to Adam since he had showed up.  
"That's not necessary. The couch is fine." Adam said grabbing the fitted sheet and starting to put it on.  
"You sure?"  
"Yeah," Adam said. There was silence again for awhile. "I don't know what I was thinking," Adam said breaking the silence. "Running off like that was a stupid thing to do."  
"I don't think I'd be thinking to clearly either," Charlie told him.  
The door to the apartment opened and Casey entered followed by Anthony Banks. Anthony walked over to Adam and handed him the Backpack of stuff he had brought over to Adam. After Adam took the backpack from him, Anthony gave his younger brother a quick hug.  
"Don't you ever do something like that again," Anthony told him.  
"I won't," Adam said as he returned the hug.  
"Dad is going to the office for a few hours tomorrow afternoon and Mom would like you to come home during that time."  
"Okay, just give me a call when he leaves," Adam told his brother.  
"I'll see you tomorrow then," Anthony said and just left.  
Casey had already said good night to Charlie and went to her room leaving Adam and Charlie alone. Charlie ended up going to Charlie's room and talking for awhile. Adam told Charlie everything that had happened since he had come home the day before.  
"I just couldn't take being a stranger in my own house anymore," Adam said as he got to what had taken place earlier this evening. "I didn't really plan on running away I had just grabbed my skates to go outside for a little while. I had planned on staying around the house but then as I came downstairs I heard my parents and brother in the livingroom talking and just had to get away. After skating around for awhile I knew I couldn't go back there. Not with my Dad acting the way he is and that's when I decided to come here. I don't think I can take this Charlie. Maybe I should just give into my Dad and quit playing for the Ducks."  
What Charlie wanted to say was that Adam couldn't do that. That they needed him for the play-offs but he knew that was selfish. This whole thing just wasn't fair.  
"We'd miss you Adam but we'd understand if you decided to do that."  
"Ever since getting injured at that game at Sutton Academy my life has been a mess. It seems like whatever I do someone is going to wind up getting hurt and doing what I most want seems to be hurting the most people."  
"You need to make yourself happy Adam. That's what is most important."  
"I'm not even sure what that is anymore," Adam said.  
"Then that's what you need to figure out," Charlie said. Adam just nodded silently. When Adam didn't say anything else Charlie brought up a different topic and the two talked till about midnight and then went to bed. 


	13. A Decision Made

It was about two o'clock Friday afternoon when Anthony called Adam at the Conway's apartment. After getting up late Adam and Charlie had been watching movies all day. Adam told his brother that he would be over in a little while.  
"Do you want me to go with you?" Charlie asked as Adam laced up his skates on the front steps of the apartment building outside.  
"No. I'll be fine," Adam told him finishing up with the skates and standing up.  
"Okay." Charlie said.  
"See you later,"Adam said and headed across town to his neighborhood.  
When Adam approached his house he found his Mom and brother waiting for him on the front porch. When she saw him coming, Angela Banks got up and walked down the steps of the porch to meet her son halfway.  
"I'm sorry Mom," Adam told her as they hugged.  
"I'm just glad you're okay," Angela told him she led him to the porch and they sat down on the steps. As Adam undid his skates his brother sat down on the steps behind him.  
"Adam this can't go on like this," Angela started.  
"So you want me to quit the Ducks too now," Adam immediately jumped in not letting his mother continue.  
"Whoa!," Anthony said from his spot. "She never said that." Anthony and his mom had spent the morning discussing what was going on in their family so Anthony already knew what Angela was going to tell Adam.  
"I'm sorry," Adam said. It seemed like he was saying those words a lot later. "I didn't come here to start arguing with you two too. I'm going to go talk to Coach Bombay later. I'll tell him I'm going to quit. Then maybe things can get back to normal in this house."  
"Is that what you really want," Angela Banks asked her son softly. "Is that going to make you happy."  
"No, but at least Dad won't be mad anymore."  
"If its not what you want to do then don't do it," Angela told her son. "All I want is for you to be happy. Its your father who is wrong in this not you. I don't want you to do something you don't want to do just to keep the peace. You love hockey Adam. You love the playing for the Ducks. Don't let him take that away from you. I love you and will always be there for you no matter what. Your brother feels the same way. Maybe your Dad will come around and maybe he won't. But you're the one who has to live with your decision."  
"I hate that Dad is so mad at me and I hate him for making me make a choice between him or the Ducks. Its not fair. And its not fair to you two. I've completely ruined this holiday."  
"No, your Father did that. Not you."  
"If I don't quit the Ducks every time I come home from Eden Hall will be like the last couple of days. I can't live like that."  
"I talked to Coach Bombay this morning Adam. I know you want to stay on the Ducks and I want you to. I also realize that you being here with your father acting the way he is isn't good for you. Coach Bombay said that he has an extra room at his apartment that you could use when your not at Eden Hall until your Dad comes around and you would be welcome here any time you want to. This would still be your home - I don't want you to think I'm kicking you out, but I also realize that in order for you to be happy I have to let you go."  
No one said anything when Angela finished speaking. Anthony didn't know what to say. He felt the same way his mom did. Adam was looking at the ground with tears running down his cheeks. Angela moved to kneel in front of him. She put her hand under Adam's chin and lifted his head so that he was looking at her. "Adam I want you to be completely honest with me. Do you want to stay on the team?"  
"Yes I do. We've had our differences but they were there for me after I got injured. Charlie tried to get me back on the team after Wilson told me I couldn't come back to varsity this season so that I would be happy. And I was up until last Friday night. Right now I feel like I belong on the Ducks and whatever happens next season happens."  
"Then I don't want you quitting. I'll go call Coach Bombay and tell him I'm bringing you over to get settled in. I love you Adam," she told him kissing his forehead as she stood up and headed into the house.  
After their mom left Anthony moved down to set next to Adam. "You're doing the right thing, Adam," Anthony told him putting his arm around his brothers shoulders. "It might not feel like that right now but in the long run you'll see that it is." He hated that this was happening to his brother but he couldn't stop it. All he could do was be there for Adam and support him and support their mother. This wasn't going to be easy on her either.  
"Do you think Dad will ever come around?" Adam asked.  
"I don't know, Adam. I really don't know."  
  
Twenty minutes after Guy had called him Charlie arrived down at the pond where the team used to practice, hockey gear in hand. He could see that the others had already arrived and were out on the ice. Fulton, Averman, Guy, Connie and Jesse had a makeshift game going - three on two, no goalies, and the goals were two soda cans on either end of the pond.  
Charlie got his skates and stuff on quickly and stepped out on the ice. "So who's team am I on?" he asked.  
"You can be on ours," Averman said quickly. "Fulton and Jessie are creaming us on their own anyways."  
"No way. Charlie's on our team. Three on three," Jesse said.  
"I was only joking," Averman said.  
Charlie got into the game and immediately scored a goal for his team.  
  
"That makes it six to one, our favor," Jesse said.  
"See told you they were creaming us," Averman said.  
"Hey guys," Charlie said as they went to the middle of the pond to start again. "I think we might be playing play offs without Adam."  
"What?" Connie and Fulton said at the same time.  
"You really think he'll quit?" Guy said.  
"Well we ain't getting far in play-offs," was Averman's comment.  
"You guys didn't see him last night. He's miserable. We all need to be supportive no matter what he decides though not act like we did when he got on varsity," Charlie said looking at Averman.  
"Sorry," Averman said knowing Charlie was referring to his recent comment.  
"Exactly what is going on, guys?" Jesse asked. Not going to Eden Hall he hadn't talked to any of his old friends in awhile before today. "All I know is that we got a call from his brother last night when they were looking for Adam and then his Mom called us back a little later and said he had showed up at your house Charlie."  
The whole group was standing in the middle of the pond now, the game completely forgotten. Charlie quickly told Jesse about Mr. Banks visit to the dorm a week before with Guy and Connie adding comments here and there.  
"Man, Adam just can't catch a break here lately. First you guys dump him, then he gets injured and now this. It's making me glad I didn't go to Eden Hall," Jesse said when they were done.  
"I wonder what would have happened if you had been there though Jesse," Connie said. "Maybe you could have talked some sense into all of us at the beginning."  
"Or it could have been me taking Adam out during your unofficial game against varsity," Jesse said. When Charlie looked at him Jesse said "yeah, Adam told me about that."  
"I think that might have been one of the stupidest things I've ever done. Adam was playing fair, hard but fair. It was luck that none of us were hurt with that take down."  
"I don't know, Charlie, you've done quite a few stupid things," Averman said.  
"Thanks, Averman," Charlie said as the others laughed.  
"We going to play or chat all afternoon?" asked Fulton.  
"Let's play," Charlie said.  
"Yeah, its six to four," Guy said purposely adding a few points to his team's score.  
"Try again," Jesse said. "You guys only scored once."  
"Can't blame me for trying," Guy said as he took his place center ice against Charlie. The group played until it was time for them to start heading back to their respective houses for dinner. Guy's team had earned a few more goal's but still got creamed that afternoon fourteen to four.  
"You really think Adam's going to quit, Charlie," Guy asked. He, Charlie and Jesse were the last three still at the pond.  
"I'm not sure but I think he may," Charlie said. "I don't think he wants to but I think he thinks it will make things better at his house. I do know that something needs to change there. When he showed up at my house last night he was determined that he wasn't going home."  
"I couldn't imagine my Dad ever doing that," Jesse said. He started to say something else but got quiet as he saw Adam approaching the group.  
"Hey, Adam," all three of them said at the same time.  
"Hi," Adam said. Charlie slid over on the bench and made room for Adam. Charlie, Jesse, and Guy all had questions that they wanted to ask but they weren't sure if they should or not. It was Jesse who finally asked a question first.  
"Did you talk to your Dad at all?" Jesse asked.  
"No. He was at work while I was home." Adam told him.  
"Are you going to quit the team?" Guy asked when Adam didn't volunteer any more information.  
"Guy," Charlie and Jesse both said accusingly.  
"It's okay," Adam said quickly. He knew Charlie was just as interested as Guy in whether or not he was staying with the team and he couldn't blame them. "No I'm not going to quit. I was going to but my mom actually talked me out of it. She knew I didn't want to. She also knew I couldn't stay at home with my Dad acting the way he is..."  
"She kicked you out," Guy said interrupting Adam. When Jesse and Charlie gave him a look he immediately shut up.  
"No, but she did talk to Coach Bombay. I'm going to spend the rest of the weekend with him and stay there when I'm not at Eden Hall until my Dad comes around," Adam told them. To himself he added 'If he ever does.'  
"We're glad your staying with us," Charlie said trying to break the awkward silence that followed Adam announcement.  
"Yeah," Guy said.  
"Why don't the four of us go catch a movie or something tonight," Jesse said and received three nods from his friends.  
"Let's go back to my house so you and Guy and call your parents and let them know and I guess you should call Coach Bombay Adam."  
"Actually I think he might still be at your place. He and your Mom were talking when I left."  
The four friends went back to Charlie's place. Bombay was indeed still talking with Casey so after Guy and Jesse called home the four of them headed to the mall to see a movie. Before long Adam actually found that he was enjoying himself and having fun for the first time in the past week. Maybe things would work out. 


	14. JV Playoffs Begin

After the Thanksgiving break classes at Eden Hall didn't actually begin until Tuesday morning. The Eden Hall students used Monday to get settled back into the dorms. Most of the local Ducks got to the dorms early to beat the crowds. By midmorning, the out of state Ducks started to reappear. Coach Bombay had scheduled a practice at three o'clock that afternoon and they wanted to get settled back in before the practice.  
By noon, when the Ducks headed over to the school cafeteria for lunch the only Duck still missing was Adam. Not all of the Ducks who had been away knew about what had taken place over the break with Adam and his family. Fulton had told Portman, Connie had filled Julie in, and Averman had told Goldberg while they were getting unpacked in their dorm room. Dwayne, Russ, Ken and Luis had not been filled in yet as they weren't rooming with a Duck who knew what had taken place.  
"So where is Banksie anyway?" Russ asked as he sat his tray down at the table where the rest of the Ducks were already sitting.  
"Steve said he hasn't shown up yet," Guy said. He had talked to Steve briefly before the group had left the dorm for lunch.  
"Is he still playing tomorrow night?" Dwayne asked.  
"Yes he is," Connie told him.  
"Relax guys, He'll probably show up at practice with Bombay," Charlie said. He had talked to Adam the night before and he knew that Adam was planning on spending some time with his mother today while his Dad was at work.  
"Why with Bombay?" Russ asked.  
"You guys don't know what happened with Adam and his family over the weekend?" Charlie asked. Russ, Dwayne, Ken and Luis all shook their heads no so Charlie filled them in.  
After lunch the Ducks split int groups and headed off in different directions. Charlie caught up with Linda and spent the afternoon until practice with her. Linda even walked with Charlie over to the ice arena.  
Coach Bombay worked them hard during the two hour practice but then it was their first practice in about a week and the only one they would get before their first playoff game which was incidently up against Blake. At the end of the practice Coach Bombay brought them all in to have a talk with them.  
"I've already talked to O'Rion about your first game against Blake. We all know you can score goals against this team. This time around however, you guys can't let down. You have to play strong defense tomorrow night no matter what position you're in. And you need to forget about that first game. You've all come a long way this season and you guys are capable of beating Blake as long as you don't defeat yourselves." Gordon had made eye contact with each of his players during his little speech and could see the determination in each of their eyes.  
"Okay, this is the starting line-up for tomorrow's game. Julie you'll be the starting goalie and Russ, Charlie, Guy, Connie and Averman. And Adam," Bombay said reading the surprise in everyone's reaction to the starting line up, "Just because I don't have you starting don't think I'm not going to let you play. You will play at some point tomorrow." He had thought a long time about the decision of whether or not to have Adam start the game. He had finally decided against it as it was the first game that Adam would be skating in since being injured.  
"Now go relax and have some fun tonight and I'll see you at the game tomorrow," Bombay told his team.  
The Ducks headed for the locker room to change out of their hockey gear. Afterwards, Bombay drove Adam, Charlie and Guy over to the dorms, the others all had other plans. Charlie and Guy helped Adam carry his stuff up to his room and get settled back into the dorms. They were all anxious about the game the following night.  
  
"Oh, please don't tell me that you are looking for scouts again," Charlie told Adam as they stepped onto the ice for warm-ups the next night.  
"No," Adam said cracking a smile at Charlie's comment. "I was looking for my mother and brother. They said they were coming to the game tonight."  
"Then they'll be here, relax" Charlie told him pulling his helmet down and skating off.  
By the time the game was starting Adam still hadn't been able to locate his mother and brother in the stands. As the whistle blew he gave up looking and focused on the game. Charlie got knocked down on the face off and the other team got control of the puck. As the Blake offense got near the Ducks goal they passed the puck to their center who took a shot. Julie stopped the puck with her stick and Averman got a hold of the puck.  
The Ducks cleared it out of their defense zone and headed down toward the Blake goal. Russ, Guy and Charlie kept passing the puck off amongst themselves. Finally, Charlie passed the puck to Russ and Russ had a shot at the Blake goal. The Blake goalie however deflected the puck.  
The first period went on like that. First one team had the puck and then the other. Bombay put Adam in near the middle of the period. The first period ended with neither team scoring.  
The second period went much like the first period. Neither team could seem to score a goal although the goalies on both team had plenty to do with all the shots that the teams got off. At the end of the second period the game was still scoreless.  
Gordon used the break between period to encourage his skaters. They were doing a great job out there even if they hadn't been able to score. He knew now was a critical time for them. If they got discouraged and let down then the game was going to be over and they would be eliminated in the first round.  
After the Coach's pep talk in the locker room the team came back onto the ice fired up. Adam took center ice for the start of the third period. As the referee blew his whistle Adam batted the puck over to Guy. Guy headed down ice with the puck. When he saw the two Blake defense players directly in front of him he passed the puck back to Adam. With the Blake defense out of position to block Adam he had an open shot at the goal which he took. The puck went by the Blake goalie and into the net. The Ducks and their fans in the stands started cheering.  
"Way to go Adam," yelled a voice from the stands.  
Adam looked in the direction of the voice and scanned the crowd as he headed back to center ice. After a few moments he spotted his brother standing in the stands cheering. His mother was sitting next to Anthony, clapping but much less vocal than her son even though she was smiling proudly.  
On the next face off Blake got control of the puck. Once they got down into the Ducks defense zone they were unable to get a open shot. It was Fulton who finally got the puck away from Blake sending one of their players down to the ice. As he passed the blue line he passed the puck over to Guy. Guy got the puck and headed down ice with it only to be knocked down by two of the Blake players. The puck sailed across the ice towards the boards under neither teams control.  
Adam was able to reach the puck first and managed to pass it over to Fulton before getting slammed into the boards by one of the Blake players. As Adam got to his feet he heard the sound of another goal being scored as Guy got the puck past the Blake goalie.  
Both teams switched players for the next face off. After scoring those first two goals early in the period the Ducks were unable to get any more goals. However, they were still keeping Blake from scoring and so the score remained two to zero in favor of the Ducks.  
With three minutes left in the game Adam was once again out of the ice, this time with Charlie and Averman skating offense with him. The Ducks offense managed to get the puck into the Blake's defense zone and keep it there. Both Charlie and Averman took a shot at the goal but the goalie kept the puck from actually going into the net. Adam couldn't seem to get any clear shots on Blake's goal as the players from Blake were keeping him covered. But then he managed to slip by a double team by Blake and Charlie now seeing his teammate open passed the puck over to him. Adam got the puck and took a shot at the goal. The puck went into the goal just as the buzzer rang ending the game three to zero.  
Charlie and Averman both rushed over to congratulate Adam. Before long the rest of the team were down with him. They had won their first playoff game. They wouldn't know what team they faced in the second playoff game until Thursday when the other first round games had been completed.  
After the game, Coach Bombay took the entire team, along with Anthony and Angela Banks, and Casey Conway, out to the ice cream parlor to celebrate the win.  
"Something going on between your mother and the Coach again Charlie?" Averman asked as they sat at the group of tables they had pushed together eating their ice cream.  
"I'm not sure," Charlie said glancing over to the counter where the three adults were sitting. Anthony had chosen to sit with Ducks and was talking to Dwayne about country music a subject that with the exception of Adam none of the Ducks ever wanted to talk about and even Adam wasn't into it that much.  
Charlie's step father hadn't yet returned when he had left for Eden Hall Monday morning. He had called Saturday night and talked to Charlie's mom briefly. As far as Charlie was concerned he could stay away.  
"Yeah, maybe you can go back to being the Coach's pet," Guy said with a smile.  
"I don't know he has Adam to contend with now," Averman chimed in.  
"Very funny, Averman," Adam said from his spot across the table from Averman. He picked up a napkin, wadded it up and threw it across the table at him. The napkin went past Averman and hit the wall.  
"It's a good thing you play hockey better than you throw," Russ told him.  
The bantering went on for the rest of the night. It was around ten o'clock when the Ducks were finally dropped back off at the dorms. Having classes the next morning they all head straight for bed.  
"Thanks for coming," Adam told Anthony as he said good-bye to his brother and mother outside of the dorm building.  
"No problem," Anthony told him. "I wish I could stay for the rest of play-offs but I have my own classes to attend. Good Luck, Adam."  
"Thanks," Adam said. He gave his mother a quick hug good-bye and then headed inside and up to his room. Steve was already asleep so he tried to be quiet as he got ready for bed.  
  
On Friday night the two semi-final games of the play-offs were played. The one game was Sutton Academy against Adam's High. The second game took place at Eden Hall and put the Ducks up against Jefferson Academy again.  
The Ducks had just as hard of a game against the Jefferson Academy Flames as they did in the last game against them. Both teams were doing well and were able to score but the Flames always seemed to be one goal ahead. With a minute left in the third period Charlie got away on a break away. He took the shot and the puck sailed into the goal tying the game eight to eight as the game ended.  
To settle the game the two teams went into a shootout to determine the winner. The Flames went first and Julie was able to stop their first player from scoring. Connie went first for the Ducks and the puck hit the goal post and was deflected away from the goal. The second player for the Flames missed the goal altogether. The Flames goalie blocked Dwayne' shot. Julie blocked the third skater for the Flames. Charlie was next for the Ducks. His shot also hit the goal post and was deflected away from the goal. The fourth skater for the Flames had no more luck than any of the others who went before him as Julie caught the puck in her glove. Guy took his shot next and the Flame goalie knocked it away with his stick.  
As the final skater for the Flames took his place center ice everyone got quiet. Most of the Ducks were holding their breath. The skater for the Flames circled once and then started toward the Ducks goal with the puck. He took his shot and Julie used her stick to knock the puck away from the goal. The Ducks all let out a sigh of relief.  
"It's up to you Adam," Coach Bombay said as Adam stepped out on the ice to take his shot. "You can do it."  
"Come on Adam," the rest of his teammates said.  
Adam took a deep calming breath as he pulled his helmet down and headed for center ice. Adam nodded as the referee gave him the instructions and dropped the puck on the ice. Adam circled once to pick up speed and then headed down ice with the puck. As he approached the Flames goal he lined up the shot and sent the puck toward the Flames goal. Like Connie's and Charlie's shots the puck hit the goal post but instead of deflecting away from the goal the puck bounced off the goal post and into the net. The Ducks had won their second game of the JV league play-offs. They would play the winner of the Sutton Academy/Adams High game the next night.  
Adam was instantly surrounded by his teammates as the Ducks came out onto the ice to celebrate the win. 


	15. The Final Game

On Saturday morning, Charlie was surprised when his Mom showed up at he dorm. It was around eleven thirty when she pulled her car into the parking lot in front of the dorm. He was outside having a snowball fight with Linda, Adam, Scooter and Julie. In fact, one of the snowballs that Charlie thew, which was meant for Julie who ducked it, hit his mom.  
"Hi Mom," Charlie said coming out from behind a tree as his mom brushed the snow off her jacket..  
"Who threw that?" Casey asked the kids. No one said anything but the others all looked at Charlie.  
"Sorry," Charlie said sheepishly. "I was aiming at Julie."  
Casey just shook her head with a small smile on her face.  
"I need to talk to you Charlie," Casey said her face growing serious.  
"Okay," Charlie told her. "I'll catch up with you guys later," Charlie said to his friends and then walked over to his mother and the two of them walked away from the dorm building. "What's up Mom?" Charlie asked when they had gotten out of hearing distance of the kids outside the dorm.  
"Al and I are getting a divorce. The papers were signed yesterday afternoon. I was going to tell you yesterday but I didn't have a chance before the game and then it didn't seem appropriate after you guys won the game last night."  
"I'm sorry Mom," Charlie said. He hadn't much cared for Al at all but he knew his Mom had. He just wanted his Mom to be happy.  
"I'll be okay," Casey said. "I still got you and you know you will always be the most important man in my life."  
"Still, I wish this would've worked out for you," Charlie told her.  
"Maybe next time," Casey said. "Got time to have lunch with your mother?"  
"Sure," Charlie said. I don't need to be at the ice arena until one thirty. Adams High had won the other semi final game the night before. The final game between the Adams High Panthers and the Eden Hall Ducks would take place at three o'clock at Adams High. They were meeting at one thirty to head over to Adams High. The State Finals for the Varsity was also taken place that night - the final game for that title would be played at Eden Hall at eight o'clock against the Sutton Academy Rams.  
Charlie and his mom walked back to her car and then headed for a nearby restuaraunt.  
  
The bus trip over to Adams High was a noisy one. All of the Ducks were excited and nervous and that led to a lot of bantering and joking around. Besides the Ducks there were other people on the bus too. Dean Buckley was riding over with the team to watch the game. Russ's parents and brother had made the trip to Eden Hall from L.A. to see the final game and were on the bus. Dwayne's parents had made the trip up from Austin, Texas to see the game. Jesse and his brother Terry were on the bus as well. Charlie's mom had decided to drive to Adams High herself but had promised her son that she would be there for the game.  
Among all the commotion on the bus though Charlie noticed that Adam was being quiet. He was sitting alone, in a seat near the back of the bus staring out the window. Charlie got out of his seat and moved back to seat down in the seat next to Adam.  
"What's wrong, Adam?" Charlie asked.  
"Who said anything is wrong?" Adam countered still staring out the window.  
"Come on. Relax. This is suppose to be fun. Win or lose we've come along way this season."  
"Yeah I guess."  
"It isn't the game is it?" Charlie asked. He was trying to get Adam to talk about what ever was bothering him before the game so that he wouldn't still be dwelling on it during the game. Adam finally turned away from the window and glanced at Charlie and then the other people on the bus. "Don't worry they're all busy with their own conversations they're not paying any attention to us."  
"My Dad showed up at the school today, at the ice arena right before we were getting ready to leave. He and the Coach really got into it."  
"What about?"  
"My mom figured that since I'll be staying with Coach Bombay for the foreseeable future that it would be better from a legal standpoint if Bombay became my legal guardian. My dad disagrees, he's against me even staying with the Coach, yet I'm standing right there while he's yelling at Coach Bombay and he completely ignores me. Coach Bombay even tied to get him to go inside to discuss things but my Dad wouldn't listen to him. I think he's blaming everything on Coach Bombay."  
"You know your dad is making me glad I grew up without a dad," Charlie said. He hardly ever talked about his dad who had walked out on him and his mom. "How did Bombay take it."  
"He told my dad exactly what he thought about him and then threatened to call the police if he didn't leave the school grounds. I feel awful about getting Coach Bombay involved in all of this."  
"None of this is your fault Adam. And don't worry about Coach Bombay. He feels responsible for all of us on the team. Did you know he gave up his job at the law firm he worked for us."  
"No I didn't."  
"Yeah he did," Charlie said deciding not to go into the details as it involved Adam's dad and the situation that resulted in Adam becoming a member of the Ducks. Charlie decided now wasn't the best time to bring that incident up. "Adam, I couldn't imagine having to go through what you've had to go through lately but I do know how hard it was for me growing up without a father. I'm lucky though in that at least I don't know my father. I don't know what it would've been like to have him around. I know it isn't the same but you don't have to go through this alone. Don't try to and don't start blaming yourself. None of this is your fault and you can't let it make you miserable."  
"Thanks," Adam said. He started to say something else but at that time a paper airplane found its way back to them. Averman and Guy had decided to see who could make a better paper airplane and they were doing their test flights.  
"Sorry," Averman called back to them from his seat in the middle of the bus as Guy's paper airplane flew over Charlie's head.  
"I win," Guy said. "Mine went further."  
Charlie picked Averman's plane up off the floor where it had fallen and threw it in Guy's direction. The plane fell short and ended up in the aisle.  
"You need to learn how to make a paper airplane, Averman," Charlie told him and the other Ducks laughed.  
"Yeah, a wadded up piece of paper would fly further than that airplane," Fulton commented.  
"Very funny," Averman said.  
Charlie was glad to see that Adam's mood seem to have improved by the time they reached Adam's high. As they got off the bus in front of the ice arena for Adams High he was laughing along with the others.  
The Ducks made their way to the locker room to get ready for the game and then headed to the ice for warm-ups. The whole team was quiet during warm-ups. They had played Adams High twice before during the regular season and both times had been crushing defeats - a seven to one loss and an eight to zero loss. They all knew this was going to be a difficult game.  
The game started out well for the Ducks. Adam started as center for the Ducks with Charlie and Guy on the front line with him. Adam won the face off and passed the puck off to Charlie who headed into the Panthers defense zone. Charlie got knocked down by the Panthers number thirteen but Adam managed to get to the puck before any of the panthers. He circled behind the Panthers net and then passed the puck off to Guy. The pass was intercepted by the Panthers number twenty-three. As number twenty-three approached the blue line he was checked by Fulton who took the puck and passed it off to Charlie. Charlie got the puck and headed back toward the Panther's goal with. As he approached the goal he took a shot and the puck sailed by the Panther's goalie and into the net for the first goal of the game.  
From there on the first period went down hill for the Ducks. On the second face off Adam again got the puck and passed it off to Guy. However, Guy was immediately knocked down by the Panther's right wing and lost the puck. The Panthers headed into the Ducks defense zone with the Puck. Julie was able to stop two shots by the Panthers offense but the third shot slipped by her.  
After that first goal the Panthers quickly scored two more goals. After the third goal by the Panthers the Ducks were able to get a hold of the puck on the face off again. Both Averman and Guy took shots at the goal but they were deflected by the Panthers goalie. Then Adam got an open shot at the goal. Adam took his shot but was then knocked down by two of the Adams High players. The puck was stopped by the goalie.  
When Adam didn't immediately get up off the ice the referee blew his whistle to stop the game. Guy and Averman were quickly at Adam's side.  
"Banks are you alright?" Guy asked concerned.  
"Yeah," Adam told him finally starting to get to his feet. He accepted the help that Guy and Averman offered.  
"You okay son?" asked the referee who had blown the whistle. When Adam nodded his head the referee started to get the game organized again.  
Adam made his way over to the team bench and was replaced on the ice by Charlie. As Adam sat down on the bench Coach Bombay knelt down in front of him.  
"Are you okay?" Bombay asked Adam as the game resumed.  
"Yeah, I'm fine Coach," Adam told him. "That hit just shook me up a little bit."  
"Alright," Bombay said turning back to the game.  
Bombay kept Adam out of the game for the rest of the first period. At the end of the first period the score was Panthers five and Ducks two. The second period didn't go much better for the Ducks. The Panthers quickly scored two more goals making the score seven to two. With five minutes left to the second period Coach Bombay put Adam back out in the game. Shortly after rejoining the game Adam got away on a break away and scored a goal bringing the score seven to three.  
The Ducks started to make a come back in the third period. Right off the start Guy scored a goal. The Fulton was able to get the puck into the net bringing the score to seven to five still in favor of the Panthers. After some failed attempts by the Panthers to score Russ was able to get his knucklepuck shot off to bring the Ducks within one point of the Panthers.  
On the next face off the Panther's center knocked Charlie to the ice on the face off and the Panthers headed towards the Duck's goal. After two failed attempts at trying to score, number thirteen for the Panthers finally got the puck past Julie making the score eight to six. The Ducks were able to score next again getting within one goal of the Panthers. With about four minutes left in the third period the Panthers once again had the puck down in the Ducks defense zone. They tried several times to score but the Ducks were playing great defense and the Panthers were unable to score. Then Portman checked the Panther with the puck and Adam was able to get a hold of it and headed toward the opposite end of the ice with it. The only Panther that was even close to Adam was number thirteen. Adam had just passed the blue line on the Panther's side of the center line when number thirteen caught up to him and tripped him. As Adam went down the buzzer rang signaling the end of the third period.  
The referee called a penalty on number thirteen and gave a penalty shot to the Ducks. Portman, Guy, Averman, Goldberg and Adam gathered on the ice near the Ducks's bench. After making sure Adam was okay Bombay picked Adam to take the shot.  
"Come on Banks."  
"You can do it Preppie."  
Adam heard his teammates cheering for him as he headed to center ice for the penalty shot. It was like the night before when the outcome of the game rested on this one shot. Adam started down ice with the puck and took his shot. However, the Panthers goalie was able to deflect the puck with his stick and Adams High won the game league championship with the score of eight to seven.  
As the Panthers came out on the ice to celebrate and congratulate their goalie Adam headed slowly back to his team bench.  
"Sorry guys," Adam said as he joined his teammates. He could see the disappointment in their faces.  
"It's okay Adam," Charlie said.  
"Nice try Preppie," Russ said.  
"You guys all played a great game today," Gordon told them all. "I'm proud of all of you. You played hard and didn't let down. You only loss by one point. That is much better than either of the other games you guys played against these guys this season. You should be proud of how far you've all come this season and there is always next year. Now lets go congratulate them on their win." 


	16. The Rematch Begins

That night the Ducks all went to the varsity game together. Varsity fared no better in their game against the Sutton Academy Rams than JV had in their game. At the end of the thrid period the score was four to two in favor of the Rams. For the first time in a long time the Eden Hall Varsity were not the state champions.  
"They don't look too happy do they," Averman said as JV watched Varsity head to the locker room after the game.  
"Riley's Dad isn't going to be all that happy either," Charlie commented. He couldn't help but feel a little smug that varsity had lost after all the grief Riley, Cole and all their buddies had given the Ducks this semester.  
"This might not be good for us guys," Russ commented. "We have to play them Monday night and they aren't going to be happy after this loss."  
The Ducks got quiet. The JV/Varsity rematch was scheduled for Monday. With both teams having lost their final games of playoffs both teams were going to hungry for a win.  
"How does practice at two tomorrow sound guys?" Charlie said as he considered Russ's words. He wanted to beat Varsity again.  
"Think Coach Bombay will go for it?" Fulton asked.  
"Even if he doesn't we can still practice on our own," Connie said.  
"Connie's right although I will try and get Coach Bombay to come," Charlie said. "So what do you guys say? You all up for practice?"  
He looked around at his teammates who all slowly nodded their heads. They all wanted to beat varsity and were more than willing to give up their Sunday afternoon to do it.  
  
Monday evening came quickly. Most of the Ducks gathered in their locker room earlier than they had to. None of them were in a hurry to get ready they had just wanted to escape their peers. The JV/Varsity game was the talk of the campus and kids had been asking the Ducks if they thought they were going to beat varsity again.  
As Guy and Connie walked into the locker room, Guy looked around and saw that the only Ducks not yet there were Charlie and Julie.  
"And here we thought we were going to be early," Guy commented as he and Connie took a seat next to Adam.  
"Are you kidding, it's a three ring circus on campus," Averman said. "Every time I turned around someone was asking me about the game tonight."  
"Yeah at least its quiet in here," Goldberg said.  
"This is making no sense," Luis said from his seat in the corner. Ken was trying to help him with pre-algebra but they weren't getting to far.  
"Sure it does. If x equals ten and x times y is forty than y equals..." Ken said.  
"Who cares," was Luis answer. He slammed his math book shut as Connie said "Four," from her seat on the bench.  
"What?" Guy asked her.\  
"The answer. Y equals four," Connie said.  
"Is she right?" Luis asked as Ken grabbed the book out of his hands and started looking at the answer key in the back of the book.  
"Yeah she is," Ken said.  
"Great. Connie can do my math homework for me."  
"Not a chance," Connie told him. "I hate math. Doing mine is bad enough."  
"Worth a try," Luis said.  
"I thought girls couldn't do math," Portman commented from where he was leaning up against some of the lockers.  
"Watch it Portman," Connie said getting defensive.  
"It was just a comment," Portman said putting his hands in the air in surrender. Not that he was afraid of Connie but he knew most of the others, even Fulton, would back Connie.  
"You're awfully quiet Preppie," Russ said trying to change the direction of the locker room discussion. He didn't get any response from Adam.  
"Hey Banks," Guy said from his spot beside Adam. When he still didn't get a answer he started waving his hand in front of Adam's face.  
"Yeah, what," Adam said coming out of the daze that he was in.  
"What's up Banks. You're zoning out on us man," Fulton said from his place beside Portman.  
"Sorry, I guess I was just thinking about things."  
"You going to tell us?" Guy asked.  
"Yeah, talking about things helps," Connie said.  
"I guess I'm just nervous about this game tonight guys. What if they're out to get me. I mean I played against them in the first match and then went back to skating with them. Now I'm going up against them again. Last time I skated against a former team in an official game the outcome wasn't so good," Adam said thinking about his first game against the Hawks and the treatment he had received from his former teammates and so called friends.  
Everyone was quiet. Connie, Guy, Averman, Goldberg, and Fulton all knew exactly what Adam was referring too. Russ, Dwayne, Luis Portman, and Ken had no clue. They had never been a part of the team in the peewee leagues. To them Adam had always been one of the orginal ducks because he had already been a part of the team when they had joined right before the Junior Goodwill Games. They all knew that something had gone on between Adam and the other Ducks before then but no one had volunteered details and none of them had asked questions. Now it was Russ who ventured to ask one that he knew Portman, Luis, Dwayne and Ken were thinking too.  
"What happened?" Russ asked breaking the silence that had fallen over the group.  
"It was the final game of the state Championships," Guy began when none of the others ventured to answer Russ' question. "Adam had only recently joined our team because Coach Bombay had figured out that the new district lines put Adam's house in our district not the Hawks' district. I'm not sure any of us completely trusted Banks yet at that game even though he was the only reason we had gotten that far." Guy paused a moment and looked around. He saw Connie, Fulton, Averman, and Goldberg all nodding in agreement to Guy's last statement.  
"We were losing," Guy continued, "When Adam got a breakaway and was on his way to scoring a goal against the Hawks. McGill, one of the Hawks, knocked Adam done from behind as he went to shoot the puck. The puck went in but Adam hit his head on the goal when he went down and was briefly knocked unconscious. He was out of the rest of the game with a mild concussion."  
"After that he was one of us for sure," Connie said.  
"After that we were more determined than ever to win that game," Fulton said.  
There was silence in the locker room again. Then another voice spoke. One they weren't expecting.  
"If you don't want to skate tonight we'll understand," they heard Coach Bombay say from the door to the locker room and all eyes turned that way to find Bombay, Julie and Charlie standing just inside the door. They had all entered not long after Guy had begun the story even though no one had noticed. The other Ducks all nodded silently at their Coach's words. They all looked at Adam expectantly.  
"I don't know.." Adam started saying and then his voice drifted off.  
"Okay here's what I'm going to do," Bombay said. "I'm taking you off the starting line-up. Suit up and if you want to skate just let me know but I'm not going to put you in tonight unless you're sure that you want to skate against these guys because they probably are going to be out for you more so than the others and not just because you're not skating with them but also because you are this teams best skater."  
Adam nodded at Bombay's words.  
"Okay, everyone listen up. I want you all to be careful out there tonight. These guys are pout to win tonight. They haven't lost to the JV team or lost a state championship in quite a long time and both of those things have happened this season. They want to win this rematch. They are going to play hard and rough and probably not exactly fair but whatever they do I want you guys to remember one thing. You're Ducks and Ducks don't play that kind of hockey. I want you guys to play hard but play by the rules. You may win and you may not but no matter what the outcome remember one thing - I am proud of each and everyone of you. All I ask is that you guys go out their and play your best."  
Gordon paused to let his words sink in to his players.  
"Okay, now get suited up and I'll see you guys and girls on the ice."  
The locker room was quiet as the Ducks got ready for the game. Each one of them knew that this game was probably one of the most important games they had ever played. This game wasn't for a championship or a gold medal. This game was for pride.  
  
The arena was once again packed as the two teams took the ice for the rematch. The only thing that was different from the last game was the coach at the JV bench. Instead of Ted Orion in his suit, Gordon Bombay in jeans and his black and yellow Ducks jacket.  
At the start of the game Charlie took center ice against Rick Riley. As the whistle blew Riley knocked Charlie down and took control of the puck. He didn't get far with it though as Portman came up from his spot on defense and immediately sent Riley down. Portman batted the puck over to Russ who crossed the center line with it. Russ passed the puck off to Guy as Kilpatrick came at him. Guy had the puck for all of two seconds when he was sent down to the ice by Cole.  
The puck went sailing free only to be picked up by Charlie by the Warriors blue line. Charlie tried to duck between the two warriors who converged on him but got caught between them. Scooter got control of the puck and passed it off to Cole who headed down ice with it toward the Ducks Zone. Portaman checked Cole as he approached the center line but not before Cole was able to pass the puck back to Riley who continued the charge toward the Ducks goal. Averman tried to stop Riley's progress to the goal but Riley faked one way and once Averman committed to that direction ducked around him on the other side. Riley took a shot at the goal only to have the puck deflected by Julie.  
Averman picked the rebound up and passed it up ice to Guy. As soon as Guy got the puck though he was slammed into the boards by Cole. Cole batted the puck back down ice to Riley who took another shot at the Ducks goal and scored.  
The rest of the first period did not go well for the Ducks. The varsity was once again out to prove who could hit harder and the Ducks were taking a beating. By the end of the first period the score was three to zero in favor of the warriors.  
The beginning of the second period didn't go much better. The warriors quickly scored a fourth goal padding their lead. On the bench Adam could see that his team needed him.  
"Coach I'm ready to go in," Adam said as Julie stopped the puck from entering the goal and passed it off to Ken.  
"Are you sure?" Bombay asked. The varsity was giving the JV team a beating as it was. There was no doubt in Gordon's mind that they would be after Banks twice as much. But he also knew that if they were to have any shot of winning this game they needed Banks out there. When Adam nodded Bombay said, "Okay Banks, Dwayne, Fulton you're in."  
Banks, Dwayne and Fulton hopped over the boards as Averman, Portman, and Guy came off the ice. It wasn't long before Banks was able to intercept a pass meant for Riley. Adam immediately passed the puck off to Dwayne. With his amazing stick handling skills Dwayne headed up ice with the puck followed closely by Banks and Conway. Just past the Warrior blue line Dwayne passed the puck back to Charlie who took a shot at the goal. Scooter blocked the shot with his stick but Adam was able to get the puck on a rebound and shoot again. This time the puck went past Scooter and the Ducks had their first goal of the game.  
Charlie let Adam take the next face off and although Riley knocked him down Adam was able to first send the puck over to Charlie on the right wing. Charlie dodged a Warrior skater and took the puck into the Warrior defense zone. Charlie then sent the puck back to Adam who had gotten back to his feet as the Warriors second defense man checked Charlie and sent him down to the ice.  
Now with the puck Adam headed down toward the Warriors goal. Riley was the closest Warrior too him and he was still behind him. The only thing that stood between Adam and a second goal was Scooter. And then Riley hooked Adam's ankle with his stick sending down to the ice and sliding toward the goal. Instead of hitting the goal though this time Adam slid into the goalie.  
As the referee blew his whistle Scooter got to his feet and then helped Adam to his feet.  
"That was totally uncalled for," Scooter yelled at Riley as Adam picked his stick up off the ice.  
"It was an accident," Riley said with a shrug and a smile on his face.  
Adam looked at Riley in anger. The only thing that kept him from going after Riley was the fact that Scooter was standing in between them. As the referee called a penalty on Riley and a penalty shot for he Ducks, the Ducks who were on the ice came up to check on Adam who assured them that he was fine.  
Adam took the penalty shot scoring a second goal for the Ducks. With Riley now in the penalty box the Ducks had a power play. They took advantage of the extra skater and Charlie was able to get the puck past Scooter and into the goal bringing the score to four to three still in favor of the Warriors.  
Riley was still in the box for the next face off. Averman took the face off against Kilbourne. After some noise of sticks hitting one another the puck was finally sent free in the direction of Portman on left wing. Portman charged up the side with it until Cole slammed him against the boards. As Portman's forward momentum stopped the pucks didn't and it went sliding further into the Warriors defense zone. One of the warriors defense picked the puck up and headed back toward the Ducks end of the ice. Approaching the warriors blue line he passed the puck off to Riley who was just coming out of the penalty box. Riley got the puck and headed across the center line with it.  
It was Dwayne who picked Riley up as he skated backwards in front of Riley looking for an opportunity to steal the puck away. Riley faked to the left and then went right but Dwayne didn't fall for it. As Riley tried to get around him on the right Dwayne was able to knock the puck away from Riley. Connie picked the free puck up and headed back down ice toward the Warriors' goal. Crossing the center line she passed it back to Averman and then moved around the defending Warriors.  
Now with the puck Averman headed down past the blue line. He saw the one Warrior approaching in the front and passed the puck back to Connie. As the puck slid across the ice toward Connie Averman was caught in between the Warrior player he had seen and Riley who was approaching from behind.  
Connie got the puck that had been passed to her and headed for the goal. She lined up the shot and sent the puck flying toward the goal. She held her breath as she watched the puck fly just above Scooter's glove and into the net. Dwayne and Portman congratulated Connie on her goal as Averman slowly got to his feet and headed for the teams bench.  
Though both teams tried hard no other goals were scored in the second period. The two teams headed for the locker room for the break between the second and third periods. The score was tied at four to four. Coach Wilson did not look happy as he followed his Warriors into the locker room. 


	17. The Rematch Ends

The varsity team was quiet as they took places on the benches in the locker room. All of them were disappointed in how the game was going. None of them dared speak as Coach Wilson strode into the locker room behind them. Wilson hadn't been happy after the loss on Saturday night. They didn't thin that the fact that this rematch with the JV was tied at this point was going to help his mood any.  
They were right. Wilson let the door shut behind him and then let the binder he was carrying with him drop to the floor with a bang. All of the Warriors jumped at the sound.  
"What do you guys think you are doing out there?" Wilson screamed not really wanting an answer. He got one anyway.  
"Um, I thought we were playing hockey," Kilbourne said sarcastically which only added fuel to the fire.  
"You could of fooled me," Wilson shot back at him angrily. "You guys are letting these freshman make fools out of you again. Hell that last period you guys let Banks skate circles around you and he didn't play half the season. And you," he added looking directly at Riley. "What the hell were you thinking with that stupid stunt you pulled tripping Banks. You guys could have still been two points up on them if it weren't for that little stunt. And your lucky the ref didn't throw you out of the game completely. I'd do it myself if it weren't for the fact that you guys are not doing well out there."  
"It was an accident," Riley said trying to look offended at the implication that he would do something like that on purpose.  
"Like hell it was," Scooter shot back from his place on the bench.  
"Are you calling me a liar, Scott?" Riley asked turning to look at Scooter with anger in his eyes.  
"Yes I guess I am,"Scooter replied easily.  
"Look goalie, no one calls Riley a liar and gets away with it," Cole said standing up and taking a step toward Scooter who stood up to meet Cole's challenge.  
"Cut it out before I bench all three of you," Wilson yelled stopping everyone in place where they were. Wilson waited for Scooter and Cole to sit back down before he continued. "I don't want to see any more stunts like that one out there. That goes for everyone. Giving them a power play is defeating yourself and at this point they don't need your help to win."  
"I want to see some real hockey played out there this last period guys. There is no reason they should be able to score one more goal. I want you to play hard and if you happen to take one of them out so be it but make damn sure it's a legal check. Do you understand me."  
All heads nodded. They all knew not to say anything even Kilbourne who had to struggle to keep from saying some sarcastic comment. Without saying anything else Coach Wilson stormed out of the locker room leaving a stunned varsity team in his wake.  
  
Over in the JV locker room things were a little more upbeat. Though bruised and tired the Ducks were happy to have tied the game. Though all their fans and supporters were expecting another win the Ducks knew that their Coach would be satisfied with an tie and after the mockery the varsity team had made of them the first period they would too.  
"Anyone get the license plate on that truck," Averman quipped as he sat down on the bench still shaken from the hit he had taken from Riley and the other Varsity skater.  
"Which one," Russ joked back. They had all taken some pretty bad hits in the first two periods.  
Like Wilson, Bombay had also followed his skaters into the locker room but he didn't start yelling at his players. Instead he made his way over to Adam Banks.  
"Take your right skate off," Bombay told Adam. The right ankle had been the one that Riley had hooked to take Adam down earlier in the second period.  
"Coach I'm fine," Adam said protesting despite the slight ache in his ankle. He had skated in more pain than this as a Hawk and he didn't want Bombay to take him out of the game.  
"I want to see that ankle before I let you back out on the ice," Bombay said not backing down.  
With a sigh Adam started unlacing his right skate. He took the skate and sock off and let Bombay examine the ankle. There was no bruising but the inside of the ankle looked slightly swollen to Gordon.  
"Are you sure its not bothering you," Gordon said searching Adam's eyes for the truth.  
"Not really," Adam said not completely lying to his coach but not exactly telling the truth either.  
Gordon could read the determination in Adam's eyes. He was determined to finish out this game against the varsity. Around them the rest of the Ducks all looked on expectantly waiting to see what Bombay would decide.  
"Okay," Gordon said deciding to Adam play the third period. Around him the other Ducks let out a sigh of relief. If Adam didn't play they knew they didn't stand a chance. Bombay had Fulton hand him a roll of sports tape and Bombay tapped Adam's ankle to give it a little more support. Around him the others talked quietly about the game. When Bombay was done he stood up. As Adam put his skate back on Bombay addressed his team.  
"You guys are doing great out there. You're holding you own against the Varsity and that is all I can ask of you guys. I'm proud of you guys. But I don't want you to let down in this last period either. Keep digging. Concentrate and keeping them from scoring. To them a tie is just as bad as a loss. If you see an opportunity to score take it but don't get careless out there."  
Bombay glanced around the locker room at all of his skaters. They all nodded understanding at his words. Everyone in the locker room wanted to win this game if possible but they also knew that a tie would be much better than a loss. They had managed to catch the Varsity after they had taken the lead in the first period. Both teams were tired but Varsity could hit harder. The Ducks all knew that maintaining the ground they had gained needed to be their first priority.  
The Ducks were the first team to return to the ice after the between period break. As they stepped confidently out on the ice the arena exploded with cheers from their fans. Adam, Charlie, Guy, Portman, Goldberg and Julie stayed out on the ice to start the period as the rest of the Ducks headed over to the bench to join Bombay.  
The cheers for as the Varsity team stepped back out onto the ice were just as loud as they had been for the Ducks. The Warriors however, didn't look quite as confident. The JV team had made fools of them once and seemed to be on their way to doing it again.  
The Warriors not starting the game joined Coach Wilson in the player's box. Riley skated to center ice to face Banks in the face off.  
"Back for more, squirt," Riley said to Banks as they took their places.  
Adam didn't say a word just stared at Riley more determined than ever to beat Riley in the face off.  
The ref blew his whistle and dropped the puck in between the two players. Adam immediately batted the puck back to Portman on defense and then knocked Riley to the ice. Riley fell on his backside stunned at being out powered on the face off. Adam stepped around the stunned Riley and joined his team on the attack of the Warriors goal.  
Before the varsity could get the puck off of the Ducks Charlie, Adam, and Guy took several shots at the goal but Scooter was able to keep them from going into the goal. He finally caught the puck that Guy had shot at the net. Scooter dropped it on the ice and passed it off to Kilpatrick who headed out of the Warriors defense zone with it.  
For most of the period the Ducks and the Warriors traded off possession of the puck. There were a few offside penalties called on both teams resulting in face offs but other than that the third period was constant play. With about four minutes left in the period the ref called a minor penalty on Portman for cross-checking.  
With Portman in the penalty box the Warriors were able to get control of the puck and get it down into the Ducks defense zone. Try as they may, the Ducks were unable to get the puck out of their defense zone. Finally, as Adam went behind the net to pick up the lose puck Charlie called to him, "Banks, ice the puck." With the Ducks skating one player down icing the puck was a valid defensive play.  
Coming around the net Adam hit the puck as hard as he could and sent it sailing across the ice. The ice sailed past all of the skaters on the ice on both teams and headed toward the Warriors goal. The arena was silent as all eyes watched the lone puck slide toward the Warriors' goal. As the puck slid past Scooter and his failed attempt to stop the puck the arena broke out with wild cheering. At the other end of the ice Adam Banks stood in disbelief staring at the puck in the Warriors net. For the first time during the game that night the Ducks had pulled ahead.  
"Way to go, Preppie," Charlie said enthusiastically as he skated up and congratulated his teammate. The other Ducks on the ice weren't far behind Charlie.  
"I can't believe it actually went in," Adam finally said.  
"Believe it man. We're now in the lead," Russ told him.  
"Lucky shot," Riley said skating by the gathered Ducks.  
"Sometimes its better to be lucky than good," Averman called.  
The referee was signaling for the Ducks to get ready for the next face off. Charlie took the face off and beat Riley to the puck. Charlie sent the puck over to Adam who instead of attempting to score simply concentrated on keeping the puck away from the Warriors. When he saw Cole coming at him Adam passed the puck back to Charlie. Charlie got the drop pass as Cole knocked Adam to the ice.  
Portman's penalty was soon up and he rejoined his team for the final few minutes of the game. Try as they may the Warriors could not get the puck off of the Ducks. At one point Cole had Adam lined up while Adam was concentrating on Riley. However, before he could reach him Portman put himself between Cole and Adam and sent Cole down to the ice. Meanwhile Adam used a spin move to get around Riley and then sent a flip pass to Guy who was open. Guy circled around a couple of Warriors and then sent the puck over to Charlie. Charlie skater further down into the Warrior defense zone as time ran out and the buzzer sounded ending the game.  
Charlie let the puck slide slowly over to the boards and put his arms up in triumph. The Ducks had managed to beat the Varsity again. The crowd went wild. Over at the varsity Bench the Warriors hung their heads in defeat. Riley, Cole and a couple others on the ice stormed off the ice and into the locker room. Without a word to his players, Coach Wilson stepped out of the player's box. On his way pass the JV box he paused and said to Gordon who was still there, "Good game Coach Bombay. Your skaters played well."  
"Thank you," Bombay said as Wilson continued on his way. Bombay looked back to his team that was celebrating on the ice. He had a great group of skaters and they had made him proud tonight even if that last goal had been scored by pure luck. They still had played hard and deserved the win.  
On the ice the remaining varsity players lined up to congratulate the Ducks on their win. Scooter was at the end of the line for the Varsity and as he went by Julie he gave her a quick congratulatory kiss on the cheek. Julie looked at Scooter with a smile on her face. She had been afraid that this rematch might put strain on their blossoming relationship. From the looks of thing she had nothing to fear.  
Scooter continued down the line of Ducks congratulating each one. The last skater in the Duck line was Adam. "Good game, Adam. Way to hang in tough. Despite all that happened you ended up on the better team."  
"Thanks," Adam said. By this time the rest of the Warriors had started to leave the ice but the Ducks were hanging around to see what else Scooter had to say.  
"And no matter what Riley said," Scooter continued, "you do have the heart of a Warrior." There was a slight pause and then Scooter said "and the soul of a Duck."  
Around them the Ducks cheered at Scooters final words. Adam was smiling. He didn't know what to say to Scooter. He knew that he had won respect from at least one of the varsity skaters and maybe that was all that was important.  
Scooter headed off the ice to let the Ducks celebrate their win. By this time family members of the skaters had started spilling out onto the ice to congratulate the skaters. Casey found Charlie and gave him a quick hug. Charlie then turned to find Linda standing behind him.  
"Congratulations," Linda said with a huge smile on her face. "I have to say I'm proud to say that I'm dating the Captain of the Eden Hall Ducks."  
"And I'm lucky to be dating the pretty girl at school," Charlie told her as he hugged her. Afterwards Charlie turned around looking for his mom so that he could introduce Linda to her, something that had never quite happened after the first game. As he scanned the mob on the ice he finally spotted her. Charlie smiled as he watched his mom and his Coach share a quick embrace and then Gordon kissed Casey on the cheek.  
'Maybe Eden Hall isn't going to be so bad after all' Charlie thought to himself with a smile.  
  
Note: I hope you have enjoyed the story. Don't worry I do have plans for a sequel but it may be a little bit before I get it started (I have a fanfic in another category that is started but has been ignored while working on this one). Thanks to everyone who reviewed I really appreciated it and hope you will read and review the next Duck story. And just so you know I've played ice hockey once and it was very informal (no pads or helmets which meant no checking) so most of the rules and terms I used to create the games in this story I have the world book encyclopedia to thank so if something is wrong blame the encyclopedia. Lol!  
  
Nellie2: So is varsity in trouble or not? At the very least spare Scooter. Anne918: Hope you enjoyed the rest of the game and the outcome. crazy4nc128: I promise to explore the Casey/Gordon relationship more in the next story. I just thought I'd get things started in this one. And your right Adam is the best. 


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